Gone Rogue 2: Second Shadow
by TheFrankMaster
Summary: Two weeks of calmness have passed. Jack and the mobs have been living peacefully beyond the reaches of the human societies. However, when something warns Jack of an incoming threat, he has to travel to the Nether in search of answers. Along the way, he questions more about what brought him here and where he is. Ep. 2 of Gone Rogue series.
1. Prologue

**IMPORTANT MESSAGES:**

**ONE:****I've divided this story—and now also its predecessor—into acts. I'll try to release chapters regularly, except when an act ends; there will be an undetermined amount of time between acts. (Also, as much as I hate to admit it, school always comes first.)**

**TWO:****Building on the first message, this prologue is kind of meant to be a teaser. It'll take a while (probably a LONG while) before I publish the first actual chapter.**

* * *

**Gone Rogue episode II: Second Shadow**

_Prologue_

**The Nether, approx. 2150-2200 years ago**

Hera walked down the dimly lit bedrock hallway. She felt a sting in her gut as a tall man appeared in the darkness ahead, his back turned to her, his arms hanging at his sides.

The man stood completely still, his gaze aimed at the large black gate in front of him. His back was straight, but his composure wasn't what Hera was used to seeing. She realized that her father might want to be left alone—to think over what had been happening the past few centuries…and, of course, how it ended. But she didn't want him to suffer on his own.

She sighed, then went to stand next to him. The man barely acknowledged her.

"… We did what we had to," Hera finally said.

Her father sighed. **"I know that,"** he said in his usual inhuman voice. **"But that is not enough to banish my sorrow."**

"Same here," Hera admitted.

**"****It was my fault. I brought rise to his malevolence."**

"Not on purpose."

**"****That is not relevant. The consequences have been catastrophic."**

"You had a reason for your role in his turn."

**"****A reason that turned out to be nonexistent."**

"Dad…" Hera trailed off, not knowing what to say.

**"****The Overworld fears me because they know so little about me,"** her father went on. **"All they know for certain is my name. I feared Áhýdan, even though I knew him as if he were my brother."**

"Those two situations can't really be compared," Hera said. "You want to protect the worlds because you feel responsible for them. And you couldn't risk having Áhýdan cause them harm. Humans, on the other hand, are scared of us because they don't fully understand what we are."

**"****Perhaps they are right to be afraid."**

"Perhaps." She glanced at him. "But they don't know that we have good intentions—just like how you didn't know that Áhýdan had good intentions when you first tried to imprison him."

**"****This is not the same. As arrogant as this may sound, the chances for a human to harm or imprison me are quite small. If the Rule did not stand in my way, I could take the Overworld if I so wished."**

"Do I need to remind you what happened to the last guy who underestimated humanity?"

Her father chuckled to that. **"No, Hera, you do not."**

That made Hera feel a bit more relaxed, and she inaudibly sighed in relief. A silence fell.

Her father looked at her. His white glowing eyes looked a little less troubled than they did a minute ago. **"You may be** **more fit than me to wield the power I hold."**

Hera snorted. "Are you kidding? I'd go insane with that power."

**"****I believe that it would affect you less than it has affected me."**

She looked back at him, frowning. "What does that even mean? I don't see how your power 'affected' you…"

**"****You will."** The man looked at the door again, his sorrowful gaze returning. **"In time."**

"Dad…?" Hera uncertainly asked. "What're you talking about?"

Herobrine didn't respond.

* * *

_If only she knew at that time what I was planning._


	2. Approaching the storm

**PrisonDictator: **_Thank you! I apologize for the wait. I can assure you that I'm not going to leave this series unfinished._

**Dice (guest): **_I'm glad to hear that!_

**ZackTheDemon (guest): **_See the prologue's author's note. And remember that I still have school and other stories to work on._

* * *

**_Act 1: The Overworld_**

_Chapter one: Approaching the storm_

**The Fallen Realm, evening—two weeks after the events of ****_Gone Rogue_**

Jack cracked his sweat-soaked neck as he stood across Andr, preparing himself for the imminent fight.

Andr, as always during training, didn't look too comfortable with the situation. With both hands, she held a wooden practice sword in a basic stance, keeping the blade in front of her. She hadn't used—or needed—many weapons before she started helping Jack with his combat lessons.

Jack took a basic stance, maintaining eye contact with the tall girl before him. "You ready?" he asked.

Andr silently nodded.

Then a purple flash of light brought her closer to Jack.

Jack was just about able to dodge the wooden sword that went for his head. He was fairly sure Andr was holding back again; there was a brief but significant delay between her teleportation and the actual strike that followed.

Jack swiftly moved in to retaliate, but the endergirl teleported away in time. Not searching for where she'd appear, Jack ran forward and swiftly climbed on top of a large rock. He turned his gaze to where he stood seconds before.

Andr looked back, wooden sword still in hand. She'd have hit him from behind, had he not run away. Now he had the high ground.

Not that that'd matter; she could still teleport and attack if she wanted. But training with her like this was mostly about developing a mind for tactics. Reflexes and such were still important, but secondary.

When Andr vanished again, Jack jumped off the rock. Just in time. Andr had appeared behind him again.

They continued sparring like that for a while, with Jack heavily relying on his reflexes to counter Andr's teleportation. Of course, had this been a real fight, he would've lost within a heartbeat.

Eventually, Andr caught Jack off-guard with a teleportation trick, after which she swept his feet from underneath him. His fall was partially broken by the soft grass.

Jack gave a nod as she helped him to his feet. "Come on," Jack said. "Let's do this without teleportation again."

"I thought," Cupa spoke up from next to a tree, "that it was _Andr _who trained _you_."

Jack blinked. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just got here," the girl in green replied.

"Right," Jack said. Cupa was better at sneaking than anyone else in the Fallen Realm. "Anyway, to answer your question, I don't think I'd be able to beat Raulyn if I didn't learn how to take a non-teleporter down."

"Then why don't you train with Ari?"

Jack started at the mention of the spider girl. "I do train with her sometimes. But the main reason why I'm no match for her is because of how fast she is. I like to have my strength challenged from time to time too."

_Besides_, he thought to himself,_ Cassandra doesn't like it when Ari gives me martial arts lessons. _The two sisters had been growing distant to each other already, and Jack didn't want that to become worse.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "The problems between her and Cassandra aren't your fault, Jack…" Andr softly said, as if reading his mind.

Jack fell silent. "We've had this talk already," he eventually said. "I don't want to hear it again." He turned to Andr. "Come on, let's fight."

Andr hesitated, then took her usual stance. The pity on her face made place for concentration. Good.

"Actually," Cupa intervened, "I came here to say that Mystia has made soup for everybody. You might want to get some before it gets cold."

"Why didn't you say so earlier…" Jack mumbled as he and Andr shed their stances.

"I meant to…Harry," Cupa said.

Andr visibly suppressed a chuckle. Jack glared. "_Don't_ call me Harry," he said.

"What?" Cupa grinned. "That's your name, isn't it?"

Jack sighed and walked past her, ignoring her chuckles. He was starting to regret telling her that Jack was really his middle name. "If you're going to call me by my first name," he said, "at least say it correctly. It's Harrison. _Harr-is-on_. Not Harry."

* * *

Later that evening, Jack nervously looked to the entrance to his bedroom. The poor excuse for a door kept anyone from seeing inside the small hollowed-out chamber that was embedded in the Realm's wall. Even looking at the entrance from outside made Jack a little nervous. That recurring nightmare was just so vivid…

His attention was drawn by something in the corner of his eye. Athena—the somewhat dejected but kind-hearted master archer among the mobs—was approaching. She and Yaebi always only started walking outside when the sun was low enough, and for a good reason.

"Hey, Jack," Athena said.

Jack briefly raised his chin as a means of greeting.

Athena hesitated. "So, you still want to execute that plan of yours…?"

"You expect otherwise?"

"… No, not really," she admitted.

"I don't need the whole speech about your siblings, Athena," Jack said. "I've heard that one plenty of times already."

"I wasn't going to give it again. And I'll shut up about Herobrine, too."

"Thanks."

A brief silence.

"You've been practicing fighting a lot over the past two weeks," Athena said. "You've improved surprisingly quickly."

"I'm glad. Maybe now I stand a shadow of a chance against Raulyn. Even though Andr's always holding back during training."

"I don't think it's possible to beat Andr if she _wasn't_ holding back. Besides, even though she never went all out, you've never actually beaten her."

"True. And I don't think I ever will." He paused. "I don't think I'll ever beat you or Ari, either."

Athena smiled. "You're not giving yourself enough credit. During our first sparring session, I was surprised at how good you already were. I mean, I knew you'd fought Raulyn and all, but I was amazed nonetheless. Ari said the same."

"You both still beat me. Easily."

"Yeah—we're mobs. We're cheaters; we rely on our powers to win, whether we can control them or not… Even experienced fighters like the Hunters have trouble taking us down without forming some sophisticated plan first." She paused, then quietly added, "No wonder the humans are scared of us."

Jack glanced at her, not knowing what to say. A brief silence fell, after which Athena looked up at him again, a smile on her face that seemed the slightest bit forced.

That meant it was very forced. She was almost as good at fooling others as she was at knowing when she was being fooled, and the fact that even Jack could tell at all that her smile was forced spoke volumes. The hostility between mobs and humans was a bit of a touchy subject at times.

"Well, anyway," she said. "You're a motivated student. And you've become even better really quickly these last two weeks."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Anyway, I'm going to take a walk. You're welcome to join me."

"Thanks again," Jack said, "but I'm going to have to refuse. Gotta turn in early today. Recurring nightmares tend to be tiring."

"Alright." Athena hesitated. "Hey Jack… About Cassandra…"

Jack sighed. "_No_," he said more forcefully than intended.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized. "I'm just concerned."

"Well, what would you have me do?

"Talk to her."

"I already talked to her; it did nothing. Not that I'm surprised…"

"Why?" Athena softly asked.

"Well, where do I begin?!" Jack said. "You shouldn't even trust me. For all you know, I've got loads of secrets like that—secrets that could get someone hurt." He raised his voice. "Cassandra seems to be the only one here who actually has the sense to understand that!"

Athena looked at him. She didn't even seem offended. There was no anger, no frustration, no cold glare. Just pity.

Why?! Why didn't she ever get angry?! Why did she have to be so calm, so patient all the time?

Jack turned away. "… Sorry," he reluctantly mumbled.

"It's fine," she said. "But you're wrong. I do have a reason to trust you; you defended my brother from Raulyn. That's enough for me. As for your past and the whole thing with Earth… You didn't know how we were going to react to that. We might've called you crazy. Or worse. I think Cass—and you—are the ones who can't understand _that_."

He shrugged. "Whatever. How about we continue this conversation at some later time? When I'm not this tired."

Athena gave a nod. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

As she walked away, Jack saw something else in the corner of his eye. A dark figure, sporting a pair of red eyes. When Jack looked at it, it vanished.

He frowned. Like always, he found himself unable to recall what the figure exactly looked like. He did know that it had some sort of connection to his recurring dream. The figure—which he assumed was little more than a hallucination—had started appearing shortly after the nightmares began, and Jack was certain that that was no coincidence.

Good thing he got used to it. The nightmares, on the other hand, still scared him every time.

He eventually went to his room and fell asleep, despite knowing what his dreams were going to be about.

* * *

_Even then, even when he knew he would get that nightmare, he did not know what was truly happening._


	3. Guided by a premonition

**ZackTheDemon (guest): **_I have three stories to work on as well—and I've had to do laboratory work a lot recently. But these are not the only reasons why this took so long.  
While I like writing, I have other things to do. For me, writing is becoming dangerously close to feeling more like an obligation than a hobby. Taking my mind off of it is something I occasionally have to do in order to negate that a little bit. Additionally, some stories have become more difficult for me to write for reasons I cannot really put into words.  
But the absolute main reason why this took so long is uncertainty. I've proofread the first and second acts' chapters many, _many_ times (the third needs a rewrite), and even now I'm afraid to publish this._

**repiya: **_I hope so too._

* * *

_Chapter two: Guided by a premonition_

Jack opened his eyes.

In front of him stood a creature he couldn't quite identify. A human-shaped creature with red eyes that gave a faint glow.

Before Jack could do anything, the creature grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Its other hand formed a fist.

That fist slammed itself right through Jack's chest.

* * *

_Heat._

_Jack reopened his eyes to see an enormous cave-ish place. The floor, walls and ceiling were made of a red otherworldly rock, and several fires and lava pools were present. Roughly shaped pieces of a glowing stone were hanging on the high ceiling._

The Nether_, Jack numbly realized._ I'm in the Nether. _He looked down at his chest, where he saw nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn't even any damage to his clothes._ And I'm alive?

_He sensed someone's gaze on him. He looked up._

_In front of him stood a tall muscular man whose white eyes were glowing faintly. The man was surrounded by five luminous purple crystals that protruded from the ground, their sharp edges pointing upwards._

_Jack immediately recognized the man. His breathing turned funny for a moment. _Herobrine, _it flashed through his mind. _How? That's not possible…!

_And yet there the creature was, staring Jack down._

**_"_****_Hurry," _**_Herobrine suddenly ordered. His voice was unlike anything Jack had heard before. __**"We do not have much time. Come find me in the Nether. These worlds are not merely a game—they are not what you may believe them to be."**_

_A voice in the distance called his name. Jack didn't hear it. He just kept his gaze on the creature before him._

_"__Jack!" the voice said for a second time. "Wake up!"_

**_"_****_Áhýdan must die,"_**_Herobrine continued. __**"Before he reaches his goal."**_

_Jack frowned._

_Then a black cloud began to envelop him. Herobrine, the crystals, the lava—the entire Nether disappeared from sight. Only the ground nearby remained visible. As if the cloud didn't get too close to him._

_As if it was scared of him._

_No, no—it wasn't scared of _him_. It was scared of something near him. Something he couldn't see._

_He suddenly stood tall, facing something in the darkness ahead. He felt a sudden power burst into him._

_Not just that. He _was_ the power. He wasn't just himself._

**_"_****_The die has been cast," _**_he heard himself speak in three different voices, one of which was his own._

_Then his skin began to peel off, floating away in pieces._

_It was followed by his flesh. His internal organs. Nerves, veins, bones—tearing and breaking and turning into dust._

_It didn't hurt. But he felt himself slipping away._

* * *

_HE IS LYING TO YOU._

_I AM NOT THE ENEMY._

_HE IS._

_HEROBRINE MADE ME INTO WHAT I AM TODAY._

* * *

"Jack!"

Jack woke up with a jolt, gasping for air. Sweat glued his t-shirt to his torso. He felt dust get into his airways, and he coughed. Tears stung behind his eyes.

As he laid there, squirming and coughing, the figure who had been calling his name took a small step backwards to give him some much-needed space.

Jack fell silent. With bloodshot eyes, he looked up at the girl—who was standing crouched at the side of his bed—while trying to steady his breathing.

"Jack…" Andr whispered. "Are you okay? You were twitching…" She glanced away. "…again…"

Jack shakily sat up in his bed. His heart was still thumping heavily. "Uh…I'm fine," he awkwardly said. Fortunately he always wore pants and a shirt when going to sleep, otherwise things would've been even more embarrassing. "Thanks for checking up on me, I guess."

Andr remained silent for a second. "Was it…?"

Jack sighed. He hunched forward and put a hand to his forehead. "Yup," he spoke, looking down. "Same dream. That thing kills me, I get taken to the Nether, Herobrine says some vague stuff about Áhýdan and that I have to come to him. And then I turn into a weirdo." He decided to leave the last, four-sentenced message out. That one was always different, but every time it accused Herobrine of being the villain.

When he mentioned his death at the hands of the unidentified red-eyed figure, he saw Andr grimace a bit from the corner of his eye.

"You still want to go there, don't you?" Andr asked. "To the Nether?"

"Yes, I do," Jack said more curtly than intended. "We've been through this…but this is the part where you give me a lecture about how dangerous Herobrine is and all, so I'm not even going to say anything."

"Herobrine isn't the only danger…"

He scowled. "What, the insanity theory? I still think that's far-fetched."

"What about the portal?"

Jack sighed again. She had a point there. The only intact Nether portal they knew about was dangerously close to Ironhand. Raulyn hadn't told Jack about it when he was there, but it was apparently common knowledge for these parts of the Overworld—or, at the very least, a popular rumor.

Fact and rumor weren't always separated as easily when the dominant societies—that is, human societies—were things to be shunned. They spread news and knowledge amongst themselves, but rarely to outsiders—and certainly not to mobs.

"Let's be honest here," Jack growled as he got out of bed, gritting his teeth, "because I'm starting to feel like I haven't been clear enough. Mystia knows shit about other worlds aside from the Nether. If anyone can get me back home, it's Herobrine, but I'll have to help him first."

"We know you think that," Andr said. "But you don't know for sure that he _will_ get you home, do you?"

"Did we know for sure that Mystia was leading us to the Realm when we first met her?"

She sighed. "Jack…"

"Don't worry," he grunted as he reached for his jacket. "I'm not planning anything."

They both knew he was lying.

* * *

Jack put on his jacket and went straight to the closest lake with Andr. At the lake, they met Cupa, who was eating a meal that consisted of food she collected from the surrounding trees and the group's food storage. Next to her, two other flat stones—which served as a substitute for plates—were put on the ground, each with an apple and a big loaf of bread.

She was sitting on the ground, facing the lake. She had her back to them, but she turned around as soon as they came close. "Morning!" she cheerfully greeted. "You two want breakfast?"

"Yes," Jack said, still a bit drowsy. He and Andr walked over to the girl in green, who offered them the two other plates.

Jack took his plate and sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree with his back. Andr and Cupa did the same, looking over the lake in front of them as they ate. The two girls immediately began a conversation about how things had been going for the past few weeks, how the others were doing, if anyone had sighted any notable animals in the Realm—all kinds of small talk. Jack remained silent, absentmindedly munching on his bread and staring into space.

Cupa stole a glance from him before she turned back to Andr. "Hey, Andr…" she spoke in a hushed voice.

"Yeah?" Andr responded.

"Has Jack slept at all tonight?"

Andr sighed. "Same nightmare…"

"Oh…right." Cupa glanced at the human again. "Huh…I wish there was something we could do."

Andr looked at the ground. "He thinks that the only way for us to help him is to let him go to the Nether."

"Well, we can't do that."

"No, we can't." She paused, then quieted her voice some more. "Cupa?"

"Yeah?"

"I…I know I don't have any right to say this, but…" Her breath shook a little. "I don't know if I want Jack to leave."

"We're not going to let him go to the Nether."

"No, I mean…his own world."

"Oh…" Cupa paused. "Oh…yeah…"

"But I don't want to prevent him from going, either. He's got people there who care about him…"

"I know," Cupa sighed, leaning back. "I know…"

* * *

After breakfast, Jack went straight to the rooms that belonged to Athena and Yaebi. He didn't go inside; he only knocked on their doors and waited for a response to make sure they had made it there safely before the sun could harm them. He did that every day. He knew that made him a little overprotective, but he didn't care—and neither did they.

He then proceeded to take a walk through the Realm, thinking about what he'd seen in his dream. That was another thing he'd been doing more and more often lately.

_"__This world is not merely a game,"_ Herobrine's voice echoed in Jack's head as the human pensively strolled around the ruins of the city. _That's what Herobrine said. What does it mean? Some things in this world are different from what I'm used to seeing in Minecraft…so is this actually supposed to be a completely separate place? But what about the similarities—?_

"Hey, Jack."

Jack turned to the source of the voice—which was revealed to be Gelli, who herself was taking a walk as well. Her younger sisters, Kelly and Ellie, were messing around near what was left of a stone house a small distance away.

Jack gave a tired wave. "How's everything going?"

Gelli shrugged. "Can't complain. What about you, though? You look like death—no offense meant."

"None taken. Nightmare. Again."

"Oh… Same one?"

"Yup."

"And you still want to go to the Ne—?"

"Yes, but I know what you're going to say about it. Everyone else says the same." Exasperated, Jack glanced to the side.

"You know us too well, Jack." The slime girl tilted her head a bit. "And it's only been, like, two weeks."

"A lot can happen in two weeks."

Gelli fell silent. "You miss your family, don't you?" she finally asked, her voice soft.

He huffed, not replying. She knew the answer to that question. She knew the experience of being separated from family members. If Jack didn't know any better, he would've assumed she purely asked that question out of sadism.

"You don't have to worry, Jack," she said. "We _will_ find a way to get you back. That's a promise."

Jack glanced at her. "There's a difference," he finally said, "between a promise and a reassurance."

"One doesn't exclude the other. Mystia's smart."

"I'm not claiming to be a scientist, but when you live around my brother for long enough, you know that 'quickly finding a solution' to something you don't know anything about is too unrealistic to be true—unless maybe you're lucky."

"Unrealistic?" Gelli said, smiling. "Like being taken to a world full of people with superhuman powers? Would your brother say _that_'s normal?"

Jack sighed. "Whatever."

Her smile fell. "Why're you so negative all the time?" she softly asked. "You don't think Mystia can do it?"

"I'm not being negative. I'm being realistic."

"You're assuming that the Nether will help you get back home," Gelli softly said. "I'm sorry to say this Jack, but that's not realistic."

"Maybe not," Jack admitted. "But it's all I've got at this point."

* * *

After some more walking, Jack came across two more familiar girls, each with purple hair and red eyes. They seemed to be having a debate, but they fell silent when he appeared.

Ari, the tallest and oldest of the two, offered him a lazy wave. "Morning, Harry," she greeted. "Wow, what happened to you?"

Jack gave her an unamused look. "What does that even mean."

"You look terrible," Cassandra flatly said as she opened a book and pointedly kept her gaze on it. Jack guessed it was one of Mystia's books. He was pretty sure Cassandra couldn't read—few mobs in the Realm could—so either she was more interested in the pictures or she wanted an excuse not to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Ari said, "but she's right. You do look terrible."

"Call me Harry again, and you're going to look terrible too," Jack said.

Ari chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were doing fine."

"I _am _fine."

Ari narrowed her eyes a little. She took a step towards Jack, examining him with a look of suspicion.

"What?" Jack said.

"Trying to figure out if you're lying. You're pale and tired. And you've got that look in your eyes."

"What look?" Jack asked.

"The one that says, 'Shut up and help me get to the Nether, 'cause that's going to solve all my problems'."

"Oh, that one," Jack said with a clear hint of resentment in his voice.

The spider girl sighed. "What are you planning…"

Jack remained silent.

From behind her book, Cass scoffed. "Yeah, Jack," she mockingly said. "What are you planning?"

Ari closed her eyes. Jack turned to Cassandra, who put the book down and stood up.

"Oh, I so wonder what other secrets you've got up your sleeve," Cassandra said. "You wanna go to Ironhand to 'get to the Nether'? Well then, _go ahead_. Go to the Nether and have Minerva stab you in the gut."

"Cass," Ari reprimanded, glaring at her sister.

"Make sure your other secrets won't get anyone here killed."

"_Cass_!" Ari barked. "_Shut up_!"

She put up her hands. "Okay, okay." She paused. "Ari's right, you know. Can't let you go. Can't have you betray our position to Raulyn."

Jack—who'd managed to remain composed during Cass' attack—felt his fingers twitch a little. As if they wanted to form fists. "Did you seriously just accuse me of working with the Hunters?" he asked.

Cass nodded.

Jack fell silent. "I _get_ that you're mad at me for keeping secrets," he slowly said, a threatening undertone in his voice. "I can take it when you tell me to get out of your way, I can understand if you think there're still things I'm not telling you…"

As he spoke, Cass visibly became more uncomfortable. So did Ari. Odd—they weren't easily scared, especially of a human. Not this kind of scared, at least.

"But saying that I'm conspiring with a bunch of genocidal maniacs who kill everything that's remotely different from what they're used to?" he continued. "You're going to take that back."

Cassandra's eyes narrowed, and she visibly regained some of her fighting spirit. "I'm not taking anything back, _human_," she said. "You've only been in the Overworld for, what, a couple of weeks? And you spent most of that time in the Realm. You don't know anything about the life of a mob, so don't pretend like you're entitled to tell me who I can and can't trust."

"I fought Raulyn, you little shit," Jack growled. "You think I challenged a guy with a sword just 'cause I felt like it?"

"Who's going to say? I've never understood humans."

"So now I'm the bad guy because I'm human, is that it? And what about Mystia, huh? Is _she_ working with the Hunters?"

"At least she's sincere."

Frustrated, Jack shook his head and turned away. "Well," he said, "have fun slandering people."

"Thanks. You have fun getting everyone killed. You should start with yourself—it'll make things a lot easier for us."

He didn't respond as he walked away. He could hear Ari reprimand Cassandra with a sarcastic—and very angry—"Good job, Sis", followed by an unintelligible protest from Cass. It lead straight to another argument, but Jack wasn't going to intervene. Not this time.

Besides, he knew Cass probably didn't mean it when she told him to get himself killed.

Probably.

* * *

"Thank you," Mystia said to Sylvia, who gave her another stack of necessary potion ingredients. "I needed these."

Sylvia sat down on the ground, feeling tired after having worked for almost the entire day. It was currently nearing the evening. She'd seen Jack—the only human in the Realm other than Mystia—walking around and talking to other mobs, but she herself hadn't approached him. He looked like he had a lot on his mind already.

_Yeah…_ she thought with shame. _So do I._

Even now, she didn't talk to him very often; facing a person from whom she was withholding such important and personal information wasn't easy… But, like Mystia, Sylvia didn't dare tell Jack the truth.

Both girls looked over when the door opened, revealing Jack himself. Sylvia immediately felt the guilt that dug in her stomach increase, but she tried not to show it. She wondered if Mystia felt the same.

"Hey, Jack," Mystia said. She either didn't feel bad, or she was very good at hiding it. "Are you okay?"

"That's not usually what people say when I visit," Jack dryly said. "Though I guess this day's an exception."

"You forgot to knock," Mystia said with a similar dryness in her voice. "Knowing you, that either means trouble for me or a very normal day for you."

Sylvia really couldn't understand how Mystia was able to appear so carefree in front of the person she was deceiving.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said. "Anyway, I need your opinion on a few things."

That made Mystia put down the stuff she'd been holding. She gave Jack a questioning look. "What is it?"

He visibly hesitated. "How ridiculous is the idea of a supernatural being giving their power to some regular mortal guy?"

"You finally taking an interest in this world's stories and legends?"

He looked at her flatly.

"Well," Mystia said, "I'd say that—if it's even possible—it'd be a pretty rare thing. There are some assumptions about it, but those have never been proven." She paused. "Now, there _are _known instances—in stories, at least—where such entities temporarily allowed a mortal to _use_ their power and knowledge."

That seemed to spark Jack's attention. "Tell me more."

She shrugged. "Well, it's…pretty similar to what you say happened in your dream. An entity basically merges with a mortal, becoming some kind of amalgamation. They have absolute control over their powers, and their combined minds are one…but separate at the same time, somehow."

The mention of Jack's dream made Sylvia shiver a little. The only reason Jack had told everyone about it was because some of the others had noticed he'd been behaving weirdly. They later found out he'd thrown up in his room not long before. The mobs demanded an explanation from him, and he'd told them—and Mystia, of course—about the recurring dream he'd had.

Mystia had wondered if it was a sign; it was suspected that powerful creatures could convey messages through thoughts or dreams. When she told Jack that, he immediately proposed the idea to go to the Nether to investigate, just like how Herobrine had said in his dream. No one had agreed.

"The catch is," Mystia continued, "that, unless specific countermeasures are taken, the mortal's body and mind will decay and weaken for as long as they're merged with the entity. This could—directly or indirectly—lead to the mortal's death. There's an irony in that; entities are known to merge with mortals in the first place because they want to _save_ that mortal from an otherwise unavoidable demise."

"Why the decay?" Jack asked. "Is the entity just that powerful?"

"Well…yeah, actually. Mortals aren't resilient enough to withstand such intense power and knowledge. The decay can be somewhat slowed down with preparations, but it can never be fully stopped. Most heroes who've merged with an entity haven't been able to stay that way for long without dying—or temporarily disappearing." She paused. "But if the stories involving this phenomenon are really true, then it hasn't been done in a long, long time. At least not to anyone's knowledge."

"Right…" Jack said. "Okay, so that was just one question. If you don't mind me asking more…"

"Ask away."

"Let's just say I was going somewhere we didn't know anything about. Some place that _might_ be dangerous, but _might_ also be…_not_ dangerous. What should I bring?"

"You mean, like, in terms of potions?"

"I guess. Among other things."

"Well." Mystia put her hand on her chin. "I'd say some fire resistance potions would be handy—especially considering _where_ you're planning on going." Her look became pointed.

Jack gave her an unamused gaze. "I know I'm being predictable here, but if you've got something to say, just say it."

"How many times have I told you," Mystia said as she rose from her seat, "that you'd become a splatter of blood the moment you go through that portal?"

"That's _only_ if Herobrine were my enemy."

"You know very well that he might be! What do you think he's going to do? Merge with you? You think that's somehow beneficial? Have you heard anything I just told you about the side-effects?! When're you going to stop this, Jack?"

"When I'm back home!"

A silence fell. Jack sighed.

"Look," he said. "There's more to the dream than you all think. Something's going to happen."

"What's going to happen is you getting yourself into trouble," Mystia answered. "Going to the Nether is the _worst_ idea you can have. You'll die for sure if Athena's sister decides to have a sparring match with you."

"I'm not worried about me."

"But _we _are!" Sylvia suddenly spoke up. She wasn't sure where she got the courage. Maybe she didn't want to risk Jack dying without telling him the truth first. "Jack, if you…if you don't return, we…"

"She's right," Mystia agreed. "We can't lose you, Jack. And I'm not just saying that because you're free security. You're part of this family, now. You proved that when you fought Raulyn."

"I already have a family!" Jack shot back.

A silence fell.

Jack averted his dark gaze, looking almost ashamed. "Look," he softly said. "I _need _to get back to my world. At _any_ cost. I'm ready to risk my life for that."

"I get that," Mystia said, suddenly looking and sounding patient, if a bit sad. "But we're not. I'm doing the best I can here, and I know it's taking a while, but I'll get there eventually. I promise. You don't have to risk your life. All you have to do is wait."

Sylvia looked down. She wasn't a violent person, but a part of her wanted to punch Mystia straight in the face right then and there.

Jack sighed, then turned to the door. "I should go," he grunted.

When he left, Sylvia turned to Mystia and hesitated. "We should tell him the truth," the mob finally said.

Mystia snapped her gaze to the younger girl. "What're we going to do?" she demanded. "Tell him that returning him to his own world is impossible? Take away his last hope of returning home—his last hope _ever_? What do you think he'll do to himself if he finds out about that?"

"L-lying to him is only going to make things worse," Sylvia countered. "I-I can't look at him anymore without feeling terrible! How can you do it?"

Mystia's eyes softened. "I _do_ feel terrible. I just… I can't bring myself to tell him that he's never going to see his family again. And I can't take the risk of him…hurting himself because of it."

"He'll find out eventually. Best to hear it from us. He didn't tell us about his past, but this is something completely different. _He doesn't deserve this_!"

"I _know_. Just…wait. Okay? He keeps talking about going to the Nether, but I doubt he's really going anywhere anytime soon. We'll have plenty of time to think about this."

Sylvia didn't reply. She hoped Mystia was right.

* * *

Jack sat down on his bed, his pack at his feet.

Once again, it had been made obvious: Everyone—except maybe Cassandra—was very much against the idea of Jack going to the Nether. Should they catch him trying to sneak out of the Fallen Realm, he wouldn't even get the chance to worry about Herobrine. The mobs would never let Jack out of their sights—let alone the Realm—if he were to attempt such a thing.

Which was why he decided to go to bed early that evening.

He had packed some supplies—some of which he'd taken from the Realm's central storage—into his backpack. They were going to come in handy—that was, assuming he'd be able to leave the Realm without being seen in the first place.

The main problems were Yaebi and Athena, who roamed the Realm during the night. They might not be as overprotective of Jack as Andr, but their eyes were as sharp in the dark as hers, and their ears were sharper. If Jack was lucky, they'd remain on the other side of the Realm.

If he wasn't, he'd have to sneak past them—which, knowing them, was going to be impossible.

Jack let his head hang. For the first time since he deserted the Hunters, he felt truly alone. There was no one who would help him get out of the Realm.

Which meant that he was going to have to be extra careful.

* * *

**Nighttime**

_Showtime_, Jack thought. _Or no, actually. I can't _show_ myself, after all._

He grabbed the backpack, then carefully opened the door—wincing when it creaked a bit—and peeked around. He saw no one nearby. He let out a breath, went through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

Alright, he was outside. That was the easy part. Now he needed to figure out where Athena and Yaebi were. Then he had to—

_Shit_, he suddenly thought.

It _just_ came to his mind: It was a three-day trip through the caverns to the outside. The mobs needed less than one day to notice his absence, after which they'd most certainly start searching for him in the cave systems. Andr's teleportation ability would allow her to cover quite a bit of ground in a small amount of time, and if she managed to find him…

He shook that thought out of his head. He had to try this. If it wasn't going to work now, it never would. Besides, even with Andr's powers, the mobs were going to have a hard time finding him; there were just too many caves to explore.

He had to be quick, though. Quick and careful. That was not a simple combination.

* * *

_He knew about the nightmare of course, but he did not realize just how deeply my power was rooted._


	4. Leaving the Realm

**ZackTheDemon: **_Ah, okay… I'm sorry if I sounded a little too defensive in that regard. I didn't mean to; I've just been feeling a little tense lately and I'm not sure why.  
Glad to hear you like the story though! Thank you._

* * *

_Chapter three: Leaving the Realm_

_Alright, just stay calm_, Jack thought to himself. _Can't let anyone see me._

He was hiding behind a thick tree, hoping that the surrounding bushes and tall grass were enough to keep him out of sight. Athena and Yaebi weren't that close, but their eyes and ears were sharp as knives.

Of course, should they find Jack, he could always say that he was just out for a stroll. Give them the whole "I couldn't sleep" speech. Not that they'd believe him, but at least he'd have some sort of excuse. It might just reduce the prison sentence he'd get.

"You've been a bit off, lately," he heard Yaebi say to his sister. The mobs were barely within hearing distance. "What's wrong?"

Athena sighed. "… I guess there's no harm in telling you," she said. "It's Jack."

Jack froze when he heard his name. Did she know he was there?

"No matter what I…what _we_ say to him," Athena continued, "he keeps talking about going to the Nether. He doesn't even seem to care about Minerva being there. Or Iris."

Those names were familiar indeed. Minerva and Iris were the biological sisters of Athena and Yaebi, respectively. They—as well as the slime girls' Nether relatives—formed some of the dangers Jack had been warned about.

"Sorry," Athena apologized. "I didn't mean to mention…_them_…like that."

"It's okay," Yaebi said. "You're as much my sister as Iris was."

"That means a lot."

The two continued talking as they walked farther away from the tree Jack was hidden behind, much to the human's relief. He'd had to walk a very specific way as to keep his footprints hidden from them—something he'd planned during the day. If it weren't for that and the unrelenting flora growth in the Realm, they'd have been able to track him with no effort at all.

After a while of silence, he continued moving towards one of the cave entrances that lead to outside the Realm.

He just had to be quiet and stay low. The tall grass would do the rest.

The remainder of the way went smoothly for the most part. He had to find cover at several instances, but whatever he thought he'd heard turned out to be false alarm every time. He eventually reached the cave entrance he had been looking for.

Upon getting deep enough into the cave he sat down, calming down a bit. In the dark, he put his backpack on the ground and searched for the Realm's map with his hand. He also lit one of the torches using the flint and steel he'd brought.

He resumed his journey, using the map as his guide. It was going to take three days, but he'd get there eventually. Probably even a little sooner if he hurried.

Unless the mobs found him, that was.

* * *

**The following morning **

"Ari!"

Ari, who was taking a stroll in the early morning, looked over to where the voice had come from. Cassandra was running towards her with an unusually distressed look on her face.

"Ari," Cassandra said, alarmed. "Jack's gone."

Ari froze. "He what?"

"Andr went to check up on him. She found nothing. Jack's just gone."

Ari fell silent, shocked. "We should go," she finally said. "Take a look in his room. Maybe we can find something there."

As Cassandra followed her to Jack's room, Ari sensed a new kind of discomfort in her sister's way of behaving. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she had an idea.

Halfway to Jack's room, Ari turned to Cassandra. "Hey, Cass…"

Cassandra frowned. "What? Keep moving, will you?"

"What's going on with you?"

Cassandra's frown deepened.

"You're my sister," Ari said. "I can tell when something's bothering you."

"What are you talking—"

"Don't lie to me, Cass."

Cassandra glanced away. "It's not important right now. Let's just go."

Ari wanted to continue asking, but she decided that it might be better to let it rest for the moment; Cassandra wasn't one to talk about what was troubling her—especially now.

* * *

"Athena," Ari said when she and Cassandra entered Jack's room. "Found anything? Any chance Jack's just taking a stroll around the Realm? Please tell me yes, because literally everyone else is waiting just outside, and they want answers."

"I'm afraid not," Athena said as she gestured to the rest of the room. "Jack's backpack and emergency healing potion are gone. I had the others check our central storage; some food, torches and a set of flint and steel are missing, as well as two maps—one of which is a copy of the map that leads to the inside of the Realm. Andr has been looking all over the place, but she didn't find any trace of Jack or our supplies."

"Right. Doesn't sound like a stroll to me. More like a trip to…somewhere."

"Ironhand, probably. The other map he took can lead him there." Athena's eyes darkened. "He's headed for the Nether portal."

"But how's he going to get past Ironhand? Jack's not stupid, and I doubt he feels like risking a reunion with the Hunters."

"That's _one_ thing I'm afraid of. But if he somehow manages to reach that portal unnoticed, the Hunters are going to be the least of his problems. We've got to stop him."

"He's probably pretty deep in the cave system by now," Cassandra, who was looking around the room, spoke up. "And we have no idea _which_ cave he went into."

"We still have time," Athena said. "With Andr's teleportation and Mystia's map, we should be able to find him."

"If we're lucky," Ari mumbled.

"We have to try," Athena said. "We know that Jack left sometime during the night, and it's a three-day walk from here to the outside—regardless of which cave he chose."

"Well, at least that's a good start. I'll tell the others."

And so she did.

But alas, their efforts yielded no results.

* * *

Jack threw his last torch—which was no longer burning—on the ground at the outside entrance of the cave and took the other map out of his backpack. He looked over it and examined the land in front of him, trying to figure out where he was according to the map.

_Let's see…_ he thought to himself when he found his location. _I could try to go in a straight line, but I think it's a better idea to just go back via the way I came._ He looked up. _First stop is the mineshaft where Athena and company lived before the Fallen Realm. I'm going to have to be careful;_ _we left that place for a reason. There could be humans there._

He started walking. His feet hurt and his legs felt heavy; he'd been wandering through the caves for three days straight. The little sleep he'd gotten hadn't been without nightmares. Not a good sign—he'd half expected them to stop once his journey had begun.

By the time he found the mineshaft, evening had fallen. A quick inspection of the place made it clear that it was deserted. The hallways were eerily quiet, with the only sounds being Jack's footsteps. As he explored, he kept looking around in search of danger, but he found none.

He still didn't stay for too long. After examining the familiar rooms and hallways he'd seen during his brief time there, he finally left the place.

Outside, he took another look at the map, searching for the quickest way to reach Ironhand without going through the cave system. He soon decided that he should get some rest before continuing. Sleeping in the mineshaft would be too risky; there was still the danger of other humans visiting.

He eventually found a much smaller cave nearby—really, it was hardly larger than his bedroom in the Realm—and put some dirt and leaves down as a makeshift bed.

As he laid down on the terrible excuse for a mattress—using his jacket as a pillow—he thought about the mobs and how things must be going in the Fallen Realm. He only hoped that, if the mobs were looking for him, their hunting trip wouldn't extend to where he currently was. He'd come this far, he couldn't afford to abort his quest now.

_It's too important,_ he thought. _I don't know what kind of threat this Áhýdan exactly—_

_Wake up._

Something made him blink. In the back of his mind, it was as if something tried to make itself audible. Something oddly familiar that he hadn't felt in a while—at least not as clearly as he might've used to.

_Is anyone going to explain what I'm doing? Why I left my only real friends in the Realm without so much as a message? I'm desperate, yes, but have I ever stopped to think about how crazy this is?_

_I need to get to the Nether. Herobrine—_

_May or may not have given me a bunch of nightmares. That's all. Still not a good reason to do this._

Jack gripped his head. What was happening?! It was as if he was fighting himself. As if there were two minds—two versions of himself trying to take control.

_If I don't make it to the Nether, then—_

_Then what? You know there're mobs in the Nether. If anyone's qualified to help Herobrine with whatever he needs help with, it's them._

_There's got to be a reason why he asked for me specifically. Maybe he wants to take me back to Earth—_

_That's just wishful thinking. Besides, I doubt he'll give me the chance to say goodbye to the friends I've made here._

_Well, why else would he want me to come to him?_

_I'm from a different world. Here, I'm an anomaly. Maybe that's why he wants to kill me._

_You don't know if—!_

_You're right, I don't know! But judging from what I've heard about him, the risk is too high. I wouldn't even get the chance to fight back._

"Stop," Jack said out loud. What was this? "STOP!"

His thoughts fell silent.

Jack sighed and closed his eyes. The thoughts didn't return for the rest of that night, though the shock stayed. That wasn't normal, he realized. He'd been conflicted before, but this was something completely different.

Something that scared him.

* * *

"Once Jack left the caves—that is, assuming that he has—there's a number of directions he could've gone to," Mystia said. "_Too_ many directions. And since we don't know through which cave he left, when exactly he left, the exact route he took, or how fast he is, there's no pinpointing his current location. It'd be even more difficult to find him now. I'm sorry."

Andr shook her head. "We can't give up. Not now. I can still look for him. Inside _and_ outside of the Realm."

"You can't do that," Cupa said. "Andr, you've been doing this for three days straight. Alone. You're powerful, but you can still get hurt. Do you really think Jack would want you to risk your life for him like this?"

"Jack _wanted_ to go to the Nether," the tall girl said. "Because of a dream. And because of that, _he_'s going to get hurt…!"

"But where do you even begin?" Cupa asked. "He could be anywhere between the Realm and Ironhand. Maybe he's gone in a different direction entirely, or maybe he's still in the caves right now, if only to confuse us even more."

"I'm the only one who _can_ look for him…" Andr tried. But she knew that Cupa and Mystia were right. She sat down on the ground, sighing, downcast.

_Where could you have gone, Jack? _Cupa thought as she put a hand on Andr's shoulder. _Why'd you go alone? Didn't you trust us?_

But she already knew the answer to that question. _We would've just tried to stop you._

* * *

_And truth be told, I barely realized what I was truly doing myself._


	5. The portal

_Chapter four: The portal_

**Two days later**

Going back to Ironhand turned out to be easy. With the map's help, Jack had arrived at a mountain near the village. It was the very same mountain that housed the entrance to the Silver Cave—the place where Jack met Yaebi and betrayed the Hunters.

From there, Jack could see Ironhand in the distance. He decided to hide behind the mountain and rest a bit more before making his move.

As he lay down on a pile of dirt and leaves—using his jacket as a pillow—he thought about how he was going to do this. He had no idea where the portal was. The map he had with him wasn't detailed enough to give him answers in that regard; it only showed the way to the village itself.

As foolish as it sounded, he was going to have to explore a little.

* * *

**That evening**

_Time to move,_ Jack thought as he left his hiding spot, once again revealing Ironhand to him in the not too far distance. The village's lights made it a shining beacon in the dark of night. As evidenced by the silence, the empty paths, and the curtains that covered the windows of the nearby buildings, most people had already gone home.

The lights in the church were still on. The church was notable, as its height exceeded that of the surrounding buildings. Jack had seen it during his short time in Ironhand, but he'd never gotten the chance to take a closer look.

He felt doubtful. Afraid. But he had gotten this far, and there was no going back to the Realm now. Even if the mobs wouldn't make the collective decision to lock him in his room for the next few years, Andr would probably make said decision on her own.

_Well, _Jack thought to himself, _time to go._

He took a deep breath, then walked towards the village—making sure to stay out of sight as he did. Fortunately, the buildings at the edge offered some cover. When he reached one of said buildings, he ducked, silently moved to the house's corner and peeked around it.

He silently made his way to the next house and hid in the dark narrow space between both residences. He stayed there for a while, unmoving, listening for footsteps. He turned his head from left to right and back to make sure he wouldn't be snuck up on; he knew—from experience and rumors—that stealth was one of Raulyn's many deadly skills, and Tristan probably wasn't exactly one to announce his presence, either.

With his heart violently pounding in his chest, Jack moved from building to building, all the while making sure that he wasn't being followed. There were a few times when he thought he heard someone walking nearby, but each time that turned out to be his imagination.

He winced at the thought of encountering the Hunters—or anyone, for that matter. Ironhand was the single most risky place for him to be in. If the Hunters were to find out about Jack being here, he'd be dead within a heartbeat. They had numbers, and Ironhand was their domain. Any fight that happened here happened on their terms.

Jack was standing still between two lightless residences when a door nearby audibly opened and closed. He started and turned his head towards the source of the sound. Not that that'd be of any use; he couldn't see anything with one of the houses right in front of him. He realized, however, that he was going to have to stay very still if he wanted to remain undetected.

Two pairs of footsteps—accompanied by voices—came closer to where Jack was.

"—ery well," a voice he didn't recognize said. "What, then, are we to do?"

"This mob," Raulyn said, "has eluded us for a long time. My former mentor Karles told me to capture it alive and unharmed, regardless of how long it would take. Its power is not the most notable, but it may be the most useful."

Jack froze upon recognizing the Hunter's voice. Raulyn wasn't very far away now. If he saw Jack…

"Have you ever seen it, sir?" the unknown voice asked.

"I am uncertain…"

"Uncertain?" the unknown voice said. "You do not even know if you have ever met this mob?"

"I have…suspects…" Raulyn said. "But I cannot be sure. Apparently, it has the power to partly disguise itself as a human."

"Truly? That sounds…dangerous."

"It does. If someone you see looks or acts even the slightest bit moblike, keep an eye on them—especially if they instill you with an inexplicable fear or awe. If we are not careful, this mob could make its way into Ironhand and sow terror without even lifting a finger."

"Is this some sort of illusionist or something? I have fought many mobs during my career in Slaenone, but this one…scares me."

"I know what you mean." Raulyn sighed. "But I think it is time that I end this day. We will continue talking about this later. Return to base and tell some of the other Hunters to do the nightshift. Zane and Tvusn have not had to exert themselves much compared to the others recently; have at least one other Hunter accompany them, and let Crius take command of the group."

Jack felt the urge to swallow. Seemed like Raulyn had been recruiting some more Hunters. That was bad.

"And after that, sir?"

"You have done enough for today, Kai," Raulyn said. "Go to the inn and get some rest."

The unknown person—Kai—left. Raulyn did the same, walking past the alleyway Jack was in. His footsteps faded away quickly.

Jack let out a breath he'd forgotten he was holding.

After waiting for a short while, he continued to explore the village. Despite his best efforts however, he found nothing that hinted at the presence of a portal. Bad sign. Very bad sign. Had the mobs been wrong? Was the Ironhand portal just a rumor?

He proceeded to move to an alley next to him. As he moved out, he heard a sound. Startled, he looked around for the source—which turned out to be a figure in the shadows nearby.

His breath froze when he realized that the figure was looking his way. He had been found. And this time there were no buildings to hide him.

A moment of silence passed as Jack and the figure stared each other down. Neither of them were moving.

Against Jack's expectations however, the figure did not scream for help. It made no effort to alert the village of Jack's return. Instead they took a hesitant step towards him. "I know you," they whispered. The voice was definitely feminine.

Jack didn't reply.

"You are Jack, right?" the figure continued. "Jack…Snyder, was it? The one who stood up for the mob in the Silver Cave?"

Jack was ready to run should things go wrong. But he stayed still, not replying.

He flinched when the figure moved again. She walked in a calm pace towards a tall building nearby and opened its front door, allowing some light to escape into the night. The figure turned her head to Jack and beckoned.

"You will be safe here," she quietly said. "Hurry. Before someone sees you."

Jack hesitated. He had no reason to trust this person. This could be a trap for all he knew.

But she might know the location of the portal…

Being the reckless fool he had proven to be in recent days, he snuck towards the building and entered. The figure closed the door behind him once he was inside, and the two people turned to face one another.

When he noticed the woman's purple robe, Jack immediately realized who this was. As far as he knew, there was only one type of villager that wore purple clothing: the priest—or, in this case, the priestess.

He blinked, then looked around.

The room he was in was large. Stained glass separated the inside from the outside, and several glowstone lamps hung at the stone wall. There were rows of wooden pews, and one lectern stood at the wall opposite of the door. The 'regular' windows were covered by curtains.

"This is the church," Jack realized.

The woman nodded. "Yes," she affirmed. "I am the priestess of this village. My name is Christine. I am pleased to finally meet you."

Jack turned back to the woman. "Funny, considering I haven't exactly been making myself popular around here…"

Christine gave a brief smile. "Living in a village or city does not always make one an enemy of mobs, Jack. I am but one example of that."

"Not everyone here hates mobs…?" Jack narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "Then why don't you do something about it? The whole racist attitude, I mean. I've got some friends who would really appreciate that."

"I have made several attempts to remove the general hatred from the people of Ironhand… But those who openly support mobs are regarded as traitors." Her expression fell. "It goes that way in most villages. In Ironhand, a mob supporter could be sent to prison. I cannot do anything from there."

"What about the other people here? You said you were only one example, so there have to be more. Why not team up with someone?"

"I know that there are people who think the same way; several men and women in the Overworld have tried to stand up for mobs. Those people, however, have been exiled, imprisoned, executed or otherwise…'disposed of'. I do not know if anyone in Ironhand supports mobs, because anyone who makes it public is likely to be convicted."

"Hmph. Okay, then." Jack paused. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk about mobs. I'll just get to the point—I have to go to the Nether, and I heard there's a portal somewhere in or near Ironhand."

"The Nether?" Christine asked, confused. "Why would you want to go there? Alone, no less…"

"Long story. Point is, I _need_ to get there as soon as possible."

"Do you know the dangers that the Nether hides?"

"I've got a suspicion."

"I am not comfortable with sending you to your death…"

"No one is going to send me to my death." He sighed. "Look, this is something I've got to do, no matter the risks. It's important."

She eyed him. She didn't seem happy about it, but Jack's words were apparently enough to convince her, because she walked to one of the windows and slightly moved the curtain aside. "Do you see that hill?" she asked.

He looked "The one at the edge of town?"

"Yes," Christine affirmed. "There is a small cave below it. You will find the portal there."

Jack grunted, then stepped away from the window and towards the door.

"Jack," Christine softly said. "Before you go, I must _implore_ you to be cautious. I do not believe mobs are malevolent by nature, but I have heard rumors of forces dwelling in the Nether—forces more powerful and dangerous than any normal man or mob could ever be."

"I'll be careful," Jack replied as he looked at her. "Thanks for the help."

Christine gave a nod. Jack turned back to the door and put his hand on it.

He hesitated.

He looked back to Christine. "By the way," he said, "should anyone ask—human or mob—I was never here."

"Of course."

"Thanks again," Jack said.

With that, he silently made his way out into the dark of night.

* * *

It didn't take long before Jack arrived at the hill Christine had sent him to. He soon found what looked like a mine entrance that led diagonally down, with the only light being situated in a small cave-ish room at the bottom of the 'stairs'. It wasn't too far down fortunately, and all Jack could do as he descended was hope that this wasn't a trap.

With as little light in the tunnel as there was, Jack had to watch his step to avoid losing his balance. The ground was uneven. Looked like no one had been here in a while.

Almost immediately upon reaching the room below, he found the source of light.

Eerie sounds echoed through the room. They were accompanied by a pulsating purple glow, stationed in a crudely assembled rectangle of sharp black glass. The glow—the portal—had a grim, ghostly air, yet there was a sort of uncertain tranquility to it that Jack couldn't place.

He let out a breath. This was it. He was here, at the doorway that would lead to the infamous Nether.

He slowly made his way towards the portal, his doubt growing with each step. The backpack he was carrying suddenly felt heavy.

But he was so close. He had come all this way. He couldn't give up now.

When he was near the portal, he stood still for a moment, observing the entrance to a world that was feared by the vast majority of the Overworld's population. And he was going to enter it. Because of a dream.

He didn't feel like doing it. If anything, the mind-numbing purple glow almost made him feel sick when he considered what lay beyond it. But he'd gotten this far, and he wasn't about to back down.

He took a deep breath.

Then he went through the portal.

* * *

_I was blinded._


	6. The message

_Chapter five: The message_

**The Nether, approx. one and a half years ago**

Herobrine strode through the small, barely lit mineshaft, holding the letter he had written in his hand. On his way to one of the rooms near the mineshaft's entrance, he met no one else. Not surprising.

Had the existence of his physical body been a requirement for him to live—as how it was with mortals—his hands would be shaking. This message he held… Even though the important segment of his plan had not been set in motion yet, this message made him feel a kind of shame and nervousness he seldom experienced.

He reached the entrance of the mine. Straight ahead was the way out, to the rest of the Nether. A hallway to his left led to the so-called breakroom, and the hallway to his right…led to where he intended to leave the letter.

Were he a mortal, he would have swallowed here. Why had he assumed physical form to 'deliver' this message? Why not simply have it materialize on the table? Or even teleport? Was this supposed to be some sort of ceremony?

He inaudibly sighed, stalked down the hallway, reached the room it ended in and placed the letter on the stone table that stood there.

All he needed to do now was have the mobs of the Nether see it. So they could lead the human to it upon his coming to this world.

He headed back to the room he had initially emerged from, still in physical form. As he reached the room and seemingly vanished into thin air, he allowed a small tremor to go through the minds of the local residents.

* * *

Blazette immediately assumed a stance, rose in the air and looked around, alarmed. Something just happened. She didn't know what it was or why she knew it, but something happened.

For reasons she couldn't explain, her gaze was drawn to a very specific direction. She narrowed her eyes. What was happening here?! There was nothing in that direction except—

She froze.

* * *

Something gently stung behind Minerva's eyes. She blinked, but it didn't go away. She dismissed it as nothing and decided to wait until it stopped. Not like there was much else to do.

… But something seemed to scratch at her brain. She frowned and glanced around the room; she was completely alone.

* * *

Iris' gaze reflexively turned to something in the distance, as if something there had moved. As if a piece of metal there had reflected light into her eyes.

She saw nothing at first, but then she noticed that Blazette had ascended into the air not too far away, her focused eyes aimed in the same direction.

* * *

Charlotte gasped ever so slightly when something tugged on her mind. She couldn't identify what it was, but she could tell it was something.

After making sure she was alone, she rose into the air and looked around some more. Nothing.

Nothing except that…that _thing_. As if she'd forgotten something important. And it was linked to Herobrine's headquarters.

* * *

Honetsu stirred in her sleep. Her formerly dreamless slumber suddenly showed images of the mine entrance not too far away from her home.

When she woke up a few hours later, she and her younger sisters took a walk around the stronghold, only to find out that the other mobs were absent.

* * *

_I chose the simple, more convenient way._

_The immoral way._

* * *

_**End of act 1**_

* * *

**Okay, so this is the end of the first act. REMEMBER MY IMPORTANT MESSAGE IN THE PROLOGUE: The time between acts is long and undetermined. Act 2 still needs to be proofread, and act 3 needs some serious changes in order for it to connect to act 2 properly.**


	7. A world with no sun

**_Act 2: The Nether_**

_Chapter six: A world with no sun_

"Alright," Cassandra suddenly spoke up. She and the others had been sitting around a campfire near the wall that surrounded the Realm, silently thinking of what to do next.

The other mobs looked at Cassandra as she sat upright.

"Yeah?" Ari asked, her voice betraying her tiredness. "What is it?"

Cass looked around the group. "Since no one else is talking, I'll just do it myself," the cave spider said. "I think that idea we were thinking about earlier really isn't that terrible."

"Teleporting around, travelling to _Ironhand_ until we find Jack?" Ari sighed. "Sorry Cass, but even if we all agreed to do that, there's a big list of problems we'd have to be ready to deal with."

"We're mobs. There shouldn't be anything we aren't used to by now. We've got to do something. We owe Jack at least that."

Some of the others frowned. Cassandra standing up for Jack? That was…quite unexpected.

Ari wanted to retort, but she kept quiet.

"Jack wouldn't want us to do that, though," Athena softly said. "And if he's really made it to the Nether—"

"_Want?!_" Cassandra practically screamed. "Jack _wants_ to go to the Nether! He _wants_ to risk his life because of some dream! He _wants _to fulfill this mission he thinks Herobrine gave him! This isn't about what Jack _wants_, it's about what he _needs_. And he _needs_ help!"

"And what if we're wrong?" Ari asked, raising her voice as well. "What if these dreams _do _mean something? Did that cross your mind, Cassandra?"

"That doesn't matter," Cassandra said. "What if _I_ went to the Nether by myself?! Would you just let me go?"

"No, of course not," Ari admitted. "But aside from chaining Jack to the wall and locking his door, we did everything we could to keep him here."

"And what if I were in Jack's position now?"

Ari fell silent. "Yes," she finally said, "I'd look for you. But you're my sister."

"Jack fought for us. He saved Yaebi. Or did you happen to forget that?"

"You seemed to have forgotten that for over two weeks…"

"Cassandra's right though," Yaebi said. "We can't just let him go like that…"

Some of the other mobs agreed. Athena sighed and looked at her brother. "Yaebi," the skeleton said, "I don't like this any more than you do, but where do we even start? We have no idea where he is."

"We should try it anyway." Yaebi sat up. "We split up. Some of us should wait for him near Ironhand in case he hasn't gotten there yet. The others should go to the Nether and look for him there. We don't know where he is, but we know where he's going."

"Going to the Nether _and_ Ironhand?" Athena said. "That's suicide."

"You got a better idea?" Cassandra shot back.

"Guys," Cupa softly spoke up, looking into the fire. "There's…another thing we haven't thought of yet. Not openly, at least."

"What's that?" Cassandra demanded.

Cupa hesitated. "For all his…moblike ways of behaving, Jack _is_ still human. We don't know a lot about him—we barely know anything about the world he's from. A few days ago, he took a copy of Mystia's map and left for _Ironhand_ of all places."

"What's your point?"

"Do you think he'd take that kind of risk? Think about the Jack we've known for these last two weeks, and compare that to what he's doing now. He's risking all our lives by bringing that map with him. What if Raulyn gets a hold of it?"

"His life's in danger, too."

Cupa looked Cassandra straight in the eye. "Is it, though?" Cupa asked.

A sudden shock went through them all when they realized what she meant.

"Cupa…" Andr said. "You're not saying…! No, Jack would never…!"

"When we just met him, we suspected he may be a spy," Cupa gently said. "Maybe we weren't so wrong…"

"But…a traitor?" Andr whispered. "You're really saying he's a traitor?"

"I'm just saying this looks suspicious." Cupa looked around the group. "I hate to say it, I really do…but am I the only one who thinks this might be a little…?"

Another silence.

"Jack could've chosen not to save Yaebi, remember?" Cassandra eventually reminded everyone. "He fought Raulyn. He probably would've bled to death if we hadn't helped him, too. And no human from this world—mob sympathizers aside—would entrust a bunch of mobs with their life."

"Oh, so _now_ that's worth something to you?" Ari mumbled.

"What if he was trying to gain our trust?" Cupa softly asked. "What if he was willing to go to great lengths…to…" She trailed off.

"He _did_ keep his past silent for a while," Sylvia said, her eyes downcast. "What other secrets could he have? What if—"

"Stop!" Cassandra interrupted. "He has kept things from us, yes. But that doesn't make him a traitor."

That was a sentence no one expected to hear from her.

But, as reluctant as the mobs were to believe it, they had taken Cupa's words into consideration. What if those nightmares _were _just a lie, used by Jack to justify going to Ironhand, and to cover up his true intentions?

"Enough already," Mystia spoke up. "This isn't going to help anyone in any way. If Jack's in trouble, we should look for him in the Nether. If he's a traitor, we should get out of here and look for shelter in the Nether before the Hunters reach the Realm. Either way, our destination is the same."

"Shelter in the Nether, huh…" Athena said, staring into the fire. Her soft voice had a very clear hint of skepticism.

"I know it's risky," Mystia said, "but, one way or another, the Nether will give us the information we need, and right now that's all I care about." The witch glanced at Sylvia. "I don't think I'm the only one."

"You don't have a map to some other safe place?" Athena asked. "Someplace where we can think about our next move?"

"I've got plenty of maps to backup locations and contingency plans, should the Realm ever be compromised. But I'd rather find out where Jack really stands before we risk letting an innocent man die. What about you all?"

"But you said it yourself: If Herobrine _is _real, and if he _is _our enemy, we'll die the moment we step through that portal. Seeing how it's located in Ironhand, we might die even before that."

"I'm not going to force anyone to come with me," Mystia said. "Even if I wanted, I don't think I'd be able to. But I'd rather not have this group split down the middle." She paused, giving Cupa a glance with a hint of hostility. "That being said, anyone who wants to come with me is welcome to. But if we split up, and if it turns out that the Nether _isn't_ an instant death trap, we'll need some place to regroup after I get the information I want. One of those backup locations would make for a good rendezvous point."

"Fine," Cass said. She sent some of the others a death glare. "I'm coming with you. I just hope there're some people here who have the same kind of common sense."

"Wasn't it you who said Jack couldn't be trusted?" Ari snapped at her, visibly growing angry as she once again raised her voice—something she rarely did. "Wasn't it you who accused him of working with the Hunters?! Wasn't it _you_, Cass, who told him to _get himself killed _so that we'd be safe from the consequences of his secrets?!"

Cass froze. The other mobs looked at her, shocked. Clearly, the only one who'd expected those words to come out of Ari's mouth was Ari herself. It was well known that Cass had been treating Jack like garbage the last few weeks, but evidently no one else knew just how bad it had gotten.

Ari scoffed. "Don't talk to me about common sense," the elder spider said, "when you're about to dig your own grave for someone you labeled a traitor." She stood up. "And don't you _dare _mention his fight with Raulyn now after having completely disregarded that for weeks. Hypocrite."

She walked away.

Cassandra didn't retort. She didn't protest. Didn't yell.

She just sighed, looking down.

Ashamed.

* * *

When the swirling purple light around him subsided, Jack stumbled out of the portal, feeling a little dizzy. He'd expected it to feel similar to Andr's teleportation, but it had turned out to be surprisingly different. There were some similarities to it, but it certainly wasn't the same. At least he hadn't lost consciousness this time.

He looked around where he'd appeared. The cavernous place that surrounded him largely consisted of red rock, lava and fire. Patches of gravel and dark thick sand were placed here and there, and the ceiling held large clusters of glowstone—the same glowstone the Overworld people used for their lamps.

But the most striking thing was an enormous fortress nearby, made of dark red bricks.

The building looked quite intimidating. The bricks looked rough but strong, giving them the same menacing look as the portal.

When Jack was done observing the area, he quickly recollected his thoughts and discovered that he had no idea what to do next. That fortress looked impressive, but not very inviting. He took another look around but found nothing that could help. Platforms and mountains consisting of the red rock—which was probably netherrack—surrounded the place. Down below, a huge sea of lava stretched out as far as the eye could see.

_Straying too far from the portal is probably a bad idea,_ Jack half-sarcastically thought to himself as he took off his jacket and tied it around his waist. He'd been so amazed—and a little freaked out—for the past few minutes that he'd hardly noticed the heat.

He looked at the fortress and hesitated. Was it safe? Probably not, but it was the only thing around here worth investigating. Maybe it'd give him directions to whatever he needed to find.

A wave of fear washed over him, but he took a step towards the entrance.

_I knew this was a bad idea._

He shook his head. Those conflicting thoughts were back. He couldn't use them now. He had to focus.

He crossed a bridge that led to a small room with a lava well in the center. The hallway that followed led him further into the building.

As he soon discovered, the place was large. Jack tried to remember the way he came from in case he needed to leave quickly, but there were so many turns, intersections and—frustratingly enough—dead ends that it soon became confusing. He kept watching his back to make sure he wouldn't be snuck up on—the possible danger the local mobs posed lingered in his head, now stronger than ever. And to think he called Athena paranoid.

Jack wasn't sure what to expect from Athena's and Yaebi's Nether relatives. If Minerva and Iris were as good with the sword as Jack had heard, _and _if they had a problem with a human roaming around, Jack would be dead within a heartbeat if he ran into them. Also, he doubted they were the only two mobs he needed to worry about.

He made it to a bridge on the outside. Short stone walls stood on both sides like railings. The bridge took a turn not far ahead, where it lead to an intersection. On the other side of that intersection was another entrance inside.

From that entrance emerged a figure.

Upon seeing it, Jack quickly crouched down and hid behind the low stone wall that stood on the side of the bridge. He peeked around the corner, hoping that the darkness was enough to hide him.

The figure turned out to be a woman with long blonde hair that reached her back. Aside from the gold-colored metal boots and gauntlets, some kind of robe that consisted of many ribbonlike strips of red cloth sewn together covered her torso and arms in full. The multitude of ribbons parted with one another below her waist—the ones on her front ended past her knees; the ones on her back didn't stop until they reached her ankles—revealing a pair of brown pants underneath. She looked like a compromise between a noble and a typical fantasy adventurer.

She wasn't standing—instead, she was floating a centimeter or two above the ground. Jack looked at her with caution, realizing that he was looking at what he used to call a blaze.

She looked in his direction, narrowing her eyes. "Who's there?" she called

Jack remained silent.

"I know you're there," the blaze said, sounding more annoyed than anything. "Show yourself. It'll make things a lot easier for everyone."

_Don't,_ Jack thought to himself. _I'm not trusting anything here yet._

_Then why'd I come to the Nether in the first place?_

He resumed suppressing the conflict in his head and focused on the mob.

The blaze rolled her eyes. "Fine, have it your way."

Then she floated towards him.

Jack quickly snuck backwards. He reached the room that preceded the bridge. Once he was inside, he rose from his crouched position and quickened his pace. He silently fled to a hallway on his left—which he hadn't explored yet—hoping she wouldn't find him. Having a pissed-off Nether mob chasing him around was exactly the kind of scenario he wanted to avoid.

Several more twists and turns later, he finally stopped and sat down. That had been tense. If that mob had found him, he might've been burned alive.

Suddenly he heard a voice. He froze and looked around, only to realize that it came from outside a nearby window.

"We've got company," the blaze said to someone. She seemed to be floating just outside the window, but she was talking to someone above her—someone who stood on top of the hallway.

_So there _is_ more than one mob nearby._

The person the blaze had spoken to said something unintelligible.

"Not sure," the blaze said. "Only caught a glimpse. Tried to get them, but they snuck away."

"Alright, well," the other person said, their voice barely audible. "Keep your guard up. And tell the others to do the same."

"Gotcha. I saw them on that bridge over there. I'm assuming they either jumped off or went back inside."

"I'll check the surrounding area outside; if they jumped off, they probably broke a bone or two. Should make it easier to find them, I suppose…"

"Unless they're a mob." The blaze paused. "Well, whatever. Do some investigating. I'll have Iris warn Honetsu and take a look inside the fortress. Charlotte and I will look around from above."

"Good. When you find our intruder, restrain them and take them to the jail. We'll sort things out from there."

"I know the procedure," the blaze said, annoyed. "You just see if you find anything near that bridge. And if you find 'em, wither 'em."

"Only if I have to."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"I meant _you_, actually. Don't fry them on sight, got it?"

The blaze grumbled something.

They stopped talking. Jack waited a while longer before sneaking away.

* * *

**Welp. That took a while.**

**I'm sorry about that. I've been suffering some major writer's blocks and lack of motivation—two problems that still aren't completely gone.**

**Also, I just spent three weeks in Alaska, where I didn't have as much time to write.**


	8. Into fire

**NovaOrAvon: **_Thank you for your patience. I am glad to hear people value quality over quantity._

* * *

_Chapter seven: Into fire_

_New plan, _Jack thought as he traveled from hallway to hallway. _I'm getting out of here. This was the worst idea I've ever had in my entire life. I should just go back to the Overworld, try to make amends with my friends at the Realm—_

_What about Herobrine?_

_—__AND I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANY WEIRD NIGHTMARES EVER AGAIN._

_He needs my help—_

_I don't care. If I stay here, the Nether mobs will eventually find me._

_Wasn't I the one who called Athena paranoid?_

_Yes, and it's very possible that I was wrong. I don't feel like taking any chances._

Jack clenched his teeth. What was wrong with him? These conflicts had been getting more and more relentless. It was as if something was trying to possess him, and that something had become more potent since he entered the Nether—

His breath suddenly froze.

He knew that powerful creatures—such as Herobrine—were widely believed to inhabit the Nether. Had one such creature been inside Jack's head all this time? Was this Áhýdan—the person or creature Herobrine had mentioned in the dream—in his head right now? Had it been Áhýdan the whole time, trying to convince him to abandon his mission?

Voices became audible nearby from the hallway up ahead. Trying to stay calm, Jack turned around and silently walked back the way he came.

He wasn't fast enough.

The voices suddenly stopped. "Hey," one of them said. It sounded like a little girl's voice. "Do we have a visitor?"

Jack looked over his shoulder. Three pairs of yellow eyes looked back. They belonged to a trio of mobs that strongly reminded him of Gelli and her sisters, even though the colors of their skin, clothing, eyes and hair were more reddish than green.

Honetsu, Ajthne and Etney. The slime girls' Nether relatives he'd been told about.

The one who had spoken—Etney, the youngest of the three who seemed to be around Ellie's age—gasped. "Is that a human?!"

The oldest one—Honetsu—grabbed her by the shoulder and went to stand in front of her, gesturing to the other two to back off. She herself backed away as well, keeping Jack in her sights.

They weren't an immediate threat. Jack resumed making his way back to the intersection he'd passed, keeping an eye on the trio. Once he was at the intersection, he ran into one of the other hallways.

He kept jogging around for a while until he was sure he wasn't being followed. He slowed his pace in a hallway that ended in a small room, which in turn had a large doorway to a bridge on the outside.

He stopped. _Bad idea. The blaze had said she'd keep an eye on the fortress from above, and seeing how she can apparently fly, that shouldn't be a problem for her. I better stay indoors. _He turned back around.

On the other end of the hallway stood a figure. In their hand was a gleaming golden sword.

Jack froze. There was only one person he knew of who wielded a weapon made of gold.

Iris' face—the part that wasn't obscured by the piece of cloth that covered half her head—betrayed little emotion, a trait her brother Yaebi shared. She looked Jack straight in the eye and slowly approached.

Jack cursed under his breath, backing away. He was forced to go outside, prompting him to throw glances around to see if the blaze was nearby. He didn't see her, but he wouldn't be surprised if that'd change soon.

"You might want to stay inside," Iris suddenly said. Her calm voice didn't hold a lot of emotion, either. "Blazette's not exactly the most welcoming person in the world."

Jack quickened his pace a bit, increasing the distance between him and Iris. He might eventually be able to run and escape. He wanted to leave the Nether before finding out what her intentions were, regardless of whether they were good or bad.

He saw something in the air not too far away. Even from that distance, he recognized the blaze. And she'd seen him, too.

"If you'll cooperate," Iris said, "this will be a lot easier for everyone."

With a thud, the blaze landed a distance away on Jack's other side. She looked at him with a glare. "There you are!"

Instead of maintaining eye contact, Jack looked to what was on both sides of the bridge. To his right the ground was very steep, lead downwards and passed under the bridge; a mountainside. To his left, that steep ground eventually flattened, but the height difference would make for a very painful jump.

The steep ground, though…

"Blazette," Iris said, a hint of annoyance in her stoic voice. "Don't. We've got him, there's no need to hurt him."

"Oh, you think that? You just happened to forget how stubborn humans can be?"

Jack turned a little towards the steep ground, hoping the mobs wouldn't notice. He felt adrenaline rise in him as he prepared himself. He hoped that the blaze wouldn't be able to react in time.

"You," the blaze said to Jack, making him freeze. "We can do this one of two ways. I think you know what they are."

Jack glanced at her.

Then he jumped off the bridge and onto the mountainside. He slid down the steep ground on his side, passed underneath the bridge he'd stood on mere moments ago, and ultimately stopped when he reached the flat ground. He quickly stood up. Despite the jacket around his waist and the pack on his back, that'd gone a lot smoother than expected—superficial scrapes on his arm, his side and in his shirt notwithstanding.

He looked to the bridge; the two mobs were looking back down at him.

Knowing that the blaze could still fly, Jack desperately looked around in search of an escape. Soon he saw the entrance to a cave in a hill nearby, and he dashed inside.

As he ran through the cave—it was more of a small natural tunnel—he couldn't help but roll his eyes a bit. _Getting chased by girls. Some people would probably like that idea._

He glanced back to see that the blaze was still after him—and she was _flying _at high speed. Fortunately the tunnel soon ended, and Jack stumbled out of the exit and onto a patch of flat ground.

He looked to his right; a sea of lava blocked his path there. He turned to his left—

A young woman in grey held a sword near his throat.

He froze. This woman… She looked very similar to Athena. Her skin, hair, eyes, and even her clothing looked the same—if a bit darker in color—but she had no quiver for arrows. The look on her face also wasn't as serene as Athena's, but even then the resemblance was there.

This had to be…

"Minerva?" Jack whispered.

Minerva briefly narrowed her eyes.

Jack suddenly jumped back—just in time to dodge the blaze, who flew past him like a comet. She stopped in mid-air nearby, fire literally emanating from her skin. She grinned maniacally.

Minerva glanced at her, bemused. "Blazette?"

"Someone's going to get burned," Blazette said.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "What's going on? Are the others okay?"

"Iris and Charlotte are fine. Don't know about Honetsu and her crew. Iris was going to check."

"Blazette, stop with the fire."

"Why?"

"We've got him. There's no need to do anything else."

Jack looked around. There was no way to escape other than the cave he'd just come from—which was basically guarded by the two mobs at that moment. Blazette would probably shoot fire at him the instant he moved.

"Fine," Blazette said. "But I'm not leaving before I get some answers out of him."

Minerva turned to Jack. "You," she said. "Who are you and why're you here?"

Jack hesitated.

"And when I say 'get answers out of him'," Blazette said, approaching Jack through the air, "I mean real answers. Through any means necessary."

Jack looked at her. This blaze seemed…crazy. Very much willing and able to hurt him. This was emphasized when a small fireball appeared in her hand. Minerva looked a lot more rational, though that could easily be a masquerade.

Regardless, he didn't see any harm in telling them the truth. "My name's Jack," he finally said, "and I'm here looking for someone."

Blazette frowned, the fireball in her hand dying down. She hadn't expected him to talk, it seemed. "… Did he just—" she began.

"You're looking for someone?" Minerva asked. "Who?"

"Herobrine," Jack replied as casually as he could.

That made both mobs freeze up.

"Where is he?" Jack finally asked.

Blazette looked at him skeptically. "A _human _came all the way to the Nether to meet Herobrine of all people," she flatly said. A few threatening sparks appeared in her hand. "You think we're idiots or something? I'm willing to bet you just came here for some recon mission so your mob hunter friends could attack the Nether."

Jack looked at her, his eyes narrowing. He humored the idea of punching her in an attempt to knock her out. Not really out of anger—he already knew how mistrustful mobs could be of humans, and it wasn't worth fighting over—but mostly as a precaution. With her powers, she could burn him badly within a moment's notice.

Minerva put a hand on Blazette's shoulder, gently pushing her back. "The Nether is under Herobrine's protection, remember?" Minerva said to the blaze. "Mob hunters can't do anything here."

"That doesn't mean I'm fine with one of them roaming around our home."

"I don't think he's a mob hunter."

"Oh yeah? Why not?"

"Áhýdan's eyes, Blazette," Minerva grumbled. Though she said it as a curse, the mention of that name caught Jack's attention. "What kind of mob hunter has no armor or weaponry?"

"Still doesn't prove anything. He might have something in that backpack of his."

Minerva sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter anyways." She turned to Jack. "You wanted to talk to Herobrine? We can take you to him."

Jack felt surprised. That might just be the best news he'd heard all day.

"Just don't blame us if he ends up killing you," Blazette grumbled. "And if any of our friends at the fortress are hurt, you can forget the nice treatment; I'll roast you alive."

She flew off. Minerva rolled her eyes. "Before we go to Herobrine," Minerva said, "we're going to check up on the fortress."

"Can't Herobrine just come here?" Jack asked.

"He could," Minerva said, "but he probably won't."

"Why's that?"

Minerva shrugged, then stood aside and gestured for Jack to walk ahead. "Let's go."

Realizing he didn't have a choice, Jack obeyed. As he walked towards where Minerva was pointing, he half expected her to run him through from behind.

His nervousness at that thought was apparently obvious, because Minerva spoke. "Relax. If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you already."

Jack's first instinct was to retort, but he begrudgingly realized that she was right. He said nothing.


	9. True colors

**NovaOrAvon: **_That is actually quite the coincidence.  
I'm glad you liked the chapter!_

* * *

_Chapter eight: True colors_

"What do you want to talk to Herobrine about, anyway?" Minerva asked as she followed Jack. "Lot of people don't even believe he exists, and those that do usually want to stay as far away from him as possible. What makes you so different?"

"I'm…a foreigner."

"A foreigner, huh…"

Jack remained silent.

"Who are you, really?" Minerva asked. "Where are you from? Why'd you come here, to one of the single most hated places the Overworld people know about?"

Jack glanced at her. "All I want is to have a word with Herobrine, then I'll leave as soon as I can."

"See, that's another thing," Minerva said. "Most people don't even dare say Herobrine's name, and you bring it up in the most casual way possible."

"Like I said…"

"A foreigner. Right." She paused. "You know any mobs in the Overworld?"

"No," Jack lied.

Minerva fell silent. "Alright," she skeptically said, obviously not believing him. "So…_are _you a mob sympathizer?"

"Yeah."

She fell silent again. "That way," she finally said, pointing with her sword to a netherrack hill that carried a part of the fortress. They made their way up there—Jack still in front—entered the fortress and went to an outside bridge.

"Turn around," Minerva ordered. Jack did so, turning to face her. "So… Jack, was it? You said you're a mob sympathizer, but you don't know any mobs?"

"Let's just say I was raised by sympathizers," Jack improvised.

"Then why'd you run from us? Aren't sympathizers supposed to believe that mobs aren't the monsters most humans think we are?"

"I ran because this is the Nether. I didn't know what might be different here. Besides, you can still kill me."

"You've got to have a really good reason to talk to Herobrine if you're risking your neck like this."

Jack didn't respond.

Minerva examined him, her eyes narrowing. "You're a weird one, Jack. A sympathizer who's scared of mobs and wants to talk to _Herobrine_? That's got to have an interesting story behind it."

"I'm only scared of mobs when they wave a sword in my face."

Minerva looked down at her sword. She then put it in her other hand, holding it where the blade met the guard, the pommel pointing forward—as if she was standing down.

"I still don't feel very safe," Jack dryly said.

She just looked at him unamused. "How'd you know who I was?" she finally said.

"What?"

"You said my name the instant you saw me," Minerva said. "I've never seen you before in my life. How'd you know?"

Jack hesitated. Telling her about Athena didn't sound like a good idea just yet; as ironic as it sounded—_he _was the intruder, after all—he still didn't trust any of the Nether mobs. He wasn't sure why, but they struck him as the kind of people who left him alive simply because they wanted to find out what he knew.

When he remained silent, Minerva took a step towards him, looking impatient. He stepped back.

"Minerva!"

Behind Minerva, Iris emerged from the fortress. She strode towards Minerva, holding her golden sword in the same stand-down manner.

"How're Honetsu and her sisters?" Minerva asked, not taking her eyes off Jack.

"They're fine," Iris said. "They were a little shocked to see a human roaming around, but they're unharmed."

"And the others?"

"Well, Blazette seems a little angry—nothing unusual there—and Charlotte got kinda nervous, but she's calming down now that things are under control."

"Good."

Iris turned to Jack. "Now that that's out of the way…" Iris said.

"His name's Jack," Minerva said, "he's a mob sympathizer, and he's looking for Herobrine. That's basically what he's said so far."

Iris looked to Jack, raising an eyebrow. Or maybe both her eyebrows; Jack couldn't tell thanks to the piece of cloth that covered half of the mob's face.

"So," Jack said. "_Will_ you help me get to Herobrine? I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"What's in the bag?" Minerva asked.

"Food."

"Let's see about that." Minerva nodded to Iris, who stepped forward.

Jack sighed but didn't resist as Iris took his backpack and opened it. She rummaged through it a bit and took out two maps, the flint and steel, and—carefully—the healing potion.

"Well, he didn't lie," Iris said as she put the pack on the ground next to Jack. She handed the healing potion to Minerva, who cautiously took it with a hint of unease on her face. "Aside from the food, there're these two maps. This one here shows a region Ironhand is in—which has a portal connected to the one next to our fortress…" She fell silent as she looked at the other map.

"What is it?" Minerva said, keeping a mistrustful eye on Jack. She held the healing potion like it was the most fragile thing in the world.

"This map…" Iris muttered. "It's…different. Looks like some kind of maze." She turned to Jack. "Where is this?"

Jack didn't respond.

Minerva approached him, then skillfully tossed her sword in the air and caught it by the handle. She raised the weapon and put the flat part of the blade on Jack's shoulder, threateningly close to his neck. "I _could_ just play this differently," she quietly said.

Jack felt a drop of sweat fall down his face as he defensively put up his hands. There was nothing he could do here; one sudden move and he'd have two sword-wielding mobs to deal with.

Minerva seemed scared of the healing potion. Maybe if he could kick it out of her grasp, let it crash on the floor…

"Minerva…" Iris said warningly.

"Did you know I can transfer a unique kind of poison into your bloodstream through my sword?" Minerva said to Jack, her voice still quiet. "I could just do that right now. From there, it'd be simple: you tell me what I want to know, and I'll give you that healing potion to save your life. You _don't_ tell me, and I'll just let your corpse wither away on this bridge."

More sweat tickled the sides of Jack's head as he focused on Minerva and the sword. She could easily just kill him if she wanted, and she seemed ready to.

Even so, he mustered up the courage to make one final bold move.

With a swift motion, he grabbed the blade with one hand. Minerva was visibly surprised by this—and even more so when Jack punched her jaw. She retreated, almost dropping the potion.

Iris grabbed her sword and assumed a basic stance. Minerva—still grasping the potion—swiftly recovered and moved to do the same.

Only then did she realize that Jack had relieved her of her weapon.

Jack threateningly raised the dark blade, suddenly enraged. He wasn't a master, but even with this weapon he'd had some practice back on Earth. Some of the self-defense classes he'd taken insisted on teaching him, and he'd been able to develop that skill a little further in the Realm.

"Why defend me from Blazette when you were going to poison me anyway?" Jack demanded.

With wide angered eyes and clenched teeth, Minerva gave an incredulous, almost feral glare. "Yeah, I defended you! And what did I get in return? You lied. About _everything_. You really expect me to patiently sit around until you happen to decide that we're actually worth your time?"

"For all I know, you'll kill me the moment I'm done explaining everything!"

Minerva was about to retort, but Iris stepped between her and Jack. "You two," Iris said. Her voice was controlled, but warning.

Minerva looked at her, visibly calming down a tad bit. She then turned to Jack again. "How'd you know my name?" Minerva finally asked, controlling herself with visible effort. "And who else here do you know about? The _truth_, this time."

"Why?" Jack said. "You going to poison me if I don't?"

"_Human_," she warned.

Jack hesitated, then sighed. "I know Athena. Your sister."

Minerva froze.

"I also know Yaebi," Jack said, glancing at Iris. "And Gelli and her sisters."

"Yaebi's alive?" Iris whispered.

Jack nodded, lowering the sword. "He got targeted by Ironhand at some point. That's when I first met him."

"Athena…" Minerva whispered. "Is she…?"

"She's fine," Jack said. "She's friends with Yaebi, actually."

"Where is she?" Minerva asked, taking a step towards Jack. "Did she come with you? I need to see her."

"She's not here," Jack replied as he backed off. "I came here alone."

"What? Why?"

Jack hesitated. Should he tell her about how scared Athena was of her? He could only imagine how she'd react…and then she'd _really_ be dangerous.

Blazette ascended into the air beside the bridge.

"You still haven't withered him…" Blazette said. "You need someone to do it _for_ you? Because I'll gladly—"

"Shut up, Blazette," Minerva sharply said.

Blazette frowned at her, visibly caught off-guard by her response.

Minerva looked at Jack. Her glare had disappeared, but she still didn't look amused. "I believe you," she said. "And I'll take you to Herobrine—on the condition that you'll tell me everything on the way there. No more lies, no more secrets."

"What about my stuff?" Jack asked as he nodded to the healing potion and the maps.

"You can have them," Minerva said. "Except for the healing potion. You'll get that back when we reach Herobrine."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for that?"

"I told you—if we wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

"You seemed about ready to _make_ me dead just now," Jack retorted, tossing the sword to Minerva's feet. It wouldn't help him if Blazette decided to shoot fire at him.

Minerva grunted and picked up her weapon.

Apparently happy with that, Iris handed Jack the maps and his flint and steel. He put them in his backpack.

"Which way?" Jack asked.

The three mobs—Blazette was floating next to the bridge to lead the way, while Iris and Minerva stayed behind Jack—led him through the fortress to another exit. From there, they led him deeper into the Nether, passing lakes of lava and random fires that perpetually burned but never spread on the netherrack ground.

Jack felt uneasy. This world was filled with things that could kill him. Heights, fires and even the thought of the ceiling collapsing kept him on edge.

At some point, Blazette landed on the ground next to Jack and walked alongside him. Jack didn't acknowledge her, silently hoping she'd go back to flying around. He didn't feel comfortable near her.

"What did you do?" Blazette finally hissed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Those two behind us are acting weird," Blazette said, glancing at the others. "Too quiet. It's obvious they're unhappy about something."

"Why don't you ask them?"

"I will, but I asked you first."

Jack glanced at her. "It's none of your business."

Blazette stepped in front of him, blocking his way. "What did you say, human?" she demanded.

Jack just looked back. He considered punching her again.

"You two done?" Minerva asked from behind him.

Blazette grunted, reluctantly stepping out of the way. "Sure."

They continued. Blazette rose into the air again. Jack ignored the hostile glances she occasionally threw his way.

"How far is it to Herobrine, anyway?" Jack asked when the atmosphere had lost some of its tension.

"Not that far," Minerva said.

It'd been evening when Jack snuck through Ironhand and reached the portal. Since things had calmed down a bit, he'd been feeling more tired, but he was able to move on. He could rest later.

"Why'd you come here alone?" Iris asked. "Why isn't Yaebi with you?"

"Or Athena?" Minerva added.

Hearing those questions out loud removed some kind of weight from the air, but it also added a weight to Jack's shoulders. He was going to be honest with them this time. There was no point in hiding it.

"Yaebi and Athena are somewhere else," he said. "Somewhere safe with a bunch of other mobs and a sympathizer. And me, before I left."

"Why'd you leave?" Minerva asked.

"Well…" Jack hesitated. "I'm not sure. Something convinced me to go to the Nether."

"'Something' convinced you? Must've been 'something' persuasive."

He sighed. This was going to sound stupid. "Recurring dream. About Herobrine."

A pause. Blazette let out a chuckle. "Really? You came here because of a dream?"

"It sounds ridiculous, you don't need to tell me that," Jack snapped. "And like I said, I'm not sure why I listened to it in the first place."

"Let me guess," Minerva said, sounding almost amused. "You didn't want to tell anyone about your dream because they'd think you were crazy, so you just snuck away and came here."

"Actually I didn't keep the dream quiet," Jack said. "My plan to go to the Nether wasn't a secret, either."

"It wasn't?" Minerva said. "And still no one wanted to come with you?"

Jack sucked in a breath. "Well…" he began. "There was the problem of Herobrine. They said that if he was real, and if he really was trying to get me to go to the Nether—like I thought at the time—he'd kill me the moment I went through that portal."

"Which didn't happen," Minerva said. "Alright, I can understand that…but is that the only reason…?"

"What exactly makes you ask that?"

"A hunch. I just want to be sure."

"Must be a very _persuasive_ hunch."

"Just tell me. Is there more to it or not?"

"Yeah," Jack admitted. "They were scared that…being here for so long—with or without Herobrine—might've…had an impact on your head."

"What do you mean an impact—" She stopped herself. She also slowed her pace, causing Jack to turn around. "They're scared of _us_?"

Jack nodded.

She stopped walking, looking shocked. So did Iris, whose stoic mask from before was cracking.

"But…" Minerva quietly said. "But why? Athena and I, we were a team…"

"She remembers that," Jack said. He glanced at Iris. "Yaebi remembers, too. But they thought either Herobrine or isolation would've caused you to…" He trailed off.

"… I…" Minerva said. "I see." She looked away, leaning against a nearby netherrack wall with her lower arm. "I…think we should rest here. It's late." She put her back to the wall and sat down. Iris took a seat on a nearby flat rock, her half-open eye downcast.

Jack sighed. Maybe he'd been too direct in his explanation.

Blazette landed near the other two. She briefly put her hand on Iris' shoulder, then glanced at Minerva with a sympathetic gaze she hadn't shown before.

She then turned to Jack.

_Oh, shit,_ Jack thought. _She's going to kill me._

But she didn't attack him. She didn't approach. She didn't even glare at him. She just sat down next to Minerva.

Jack ended up sitting down as well, his back against the wall. Despite the fight he had with Minerva earlier, he felt bad. He should've been more cautious.

Or maybe he should've convinced Athena to come with him so she could make amends with her sister. But that had never been a real option. Athena was a good friend, but she would never even have allowed Jack to go to the Nether—let alone accompany him there.

He unconsciously fell asleep against the wall.


	10. Trading stories

**NovaOrAvon: **_That might be my fault—I mean, it obviously is, but it's just that _A world with no sun _and _Into fire _were originally one single chapter. Splitting them up might've slowed things down a bit. That was not my intention._

* * *

_Chapter nine: Trading stories_

A knock came at Cupa's door.

Cupa, who was sitting on her bed in a hunched position, glanced up at it. "It's open," she called.

The door opened slowly. There stood Andr.

Cupa sighed softly. "Hey, Andr."

"Hey." The taller girl entered the room, closing the door behind her. "You're…sitting alone in the dark here?"

"I just need to think. Things aren't looking too good."

Andr sat down on a flat rock opposite of Cupa. "We've been through a lot already," Andr said. "Everyone here has."

That was true. Before the Realm, everyone kept their pasts quiet. This had partly been because of privacy, and partly because there hadn't been many good moments to tell stories. After they settled down, everyone began to open up a bit. Most stories told so far included some dark moments—the type of which could be expected in a mob's life.

"True," Cupa said, "but this? It's not just the two of us now; we're a large group of pretty powerful mobs." She hesitated. "If Jack _is_ a spy, the Hunters would be in the perfect position to attack us all right now. If he isn't a spy, he's probably made it to the Nether already. Or Ironhand's jail. Or worse…"

Andr winced a little. None of those scenarios were fun to think about. "What do you suppose we should do?"

"That's what I was thinking about," Cupa said. "Those ideas Yaebi and Mystia had…are all I've got."

Andr's eyes lit up.

"Alright," Cupa said, "no offense, but I still think it's crazy."

"It _is_ crazy. We're just so desperate to solve this situation."

"I know. I am too. I'm just so scared of…a lot of things."

"You mean Ironhand. And the Nether."

"Ironhand we might survive. But if the Nether mobs are against us? If _Herobrine_'s against us? We wouldn't stand a chance."

Andr looked down at the ground. "I know…but I can't live with myself without making sure Jack is…" She trailed off.

"I know that feeling," Cupa agreed.

Andr paused. "Some of us are willing to go and look for Jack while others wait in one of Mystia's backup locations." She glanced down. "I'm…going with Mystia to the Nether."

Cupa sighed, though she wasn't surprised to hear it. "I figured."

"Can you expect me not to?" Andr softly asked.

"It's just… I know where you're coming from, but…" Cupa trailed off.

"You're talking about your spy theory," Andr said. "I don't think it's enough reason for me not to go, if only to find out the truth."

"And what if it _is_ true and Jack himself ends up…" Cupa swallowed. "…killing you?"

Andr's eyes darkened. "He won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because he isn't _able_ to kill me."

That actually caught Cupa off-guard. She'd expected Andr to tenaciously uphold the idea that Jack was still on the mobs' side—she could be quite emotional about those things. Now though… That cold confidence in her voice was reminiscent of Jack himself. It was something he would be more likely to say than Andr.

A second later, Andr glanced down. "I don't know for sure if Jack's a spy or not," she softly said. "I don't believe he is, but I can't know for sure." She looked up at Cupa. "What I do know is that my powers are one of the reasons why I'm still alive now. Spy or not, Jack can't change that."

Cupa nodded, still a little taken aback.

"Not the answer you expected?" Andr asked with a hint of a smile.

"Not exactly," Cupa said. "But it's…valid."

"I guess being around Jack so much changed me a little bit." Andr paused. "Maybe that's why I don't believe he's a spy. He's…helped me."

_Helped you become more confident,_ Cupa thought, holding back a smile. _I noticed that._

"You don't have to come with us," Andr said. "I won't think less of you if you go to one of those backup locations instead. You don't have my powers; you'd be in more danger than I if you went to Ironhand or the Nether."

"Maybe," Cupa pensively said. "But I honestly don't know what I'm going to do." She glanced down. "I'm not as sure about my spy theory as I might seem."

Andr nodded. She stood up. "You need some time to think about it…?"

"Probably. But you'll be the first to know when I've made up my mind."

"Thanks."

"I feel like I should thank _you_."

Andr blinked. "For what?"

"Being…patient."

She tilted her head.

"I reckoned you'd be angry," Cupa softly said. "Whether or not that spy theory is true, it's what drove us all apart."

Andr shook her head. "That's not your fault."

"Isn't it?"

"We're supposed to be aware of possible dangers," Andr said. "That's what you did—you made us aware. Don't worry about what's going on in our group right now. We'll get back together, before or after we find Jack."

"How do you know that?"

"We can't exactly stay divided forever because of something like this, can we? People disagree with each other all the time. We'll make amends sooner or later."

Cupa paused, then chuckled. "Heh."

"What?" Andr smiled.

"Jack's confidence really did rub off on you," Cupa said. "You're even giving me a pep talk."

"I guess I am," Andr said, sounding surprised.

"Well, I appreciate it."

Andr nodded. "Anytime."

* * *

Jack woke up. His back was sore.

The red environment let him remember where he was, and the memories of everything that had happened between him and the mobs followed soon after. He immediately felt uncomfortable when he recalled telling Minerva and Iris about their siblings.

With a groan, he stood up and stretched. How had he fallen asleep in this place? Everything—from the wall he'd leaned against to the high temperature—made sleeping that much more difficult, yet he'd somehow done it. He must've been more tired than he'd realized.

He noticed something to his left and looked to see Minerva appearing from a cave entrance in the wall mere meters ahead.

The mob looked back. "Morning," she said. "You got a good night's rest?"

Jack gave a nod. "I suppose. How're things?"

"We're not that far away from Herobrine, now," Minerva said. "If we hurry, we can make it there before noon. Blazette's gone to the fortress to tell Charlotte and Honetsu where we're going. They're coming after us, but we don't have to wait for them."

_How can they tell time here? _Jack thought. "Alright. Point me in the right direction, and we can start walking."

"_I'll_ take the lead," Blazette spoke up as she appeared from seemingly nowhere, floating in the air.

"You're back quickly," Jack said.

"Of course I am," Blazette said. "I can fly."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

She rolled her eyes. "You humans and your worthless jokes."

They continued their journey, with Jack trying to ignore his lingering tiredness. The terrain they passed varied greatly—from relatively flat, fiery plains to steep mountains whose only light sources were the lumps of glowstone on the ceiling—but no other mobs ever showed themselves. It was eerily quiet.

Jack felt himself getting more and more agitated throughout the trip. The conflict in his head acted up again, and it became worse as he approached his goal. Something about it made him feel so…well, agitated. If it really was Áhýdan's doing, Jack reckoned he'd have to bring it up when he met Herobrine.

"Let's get some rest," Minerva eventually said. "I think we can all use something to eat."

"Yeah," Blazette said. She turned to Jack. "You happen to have anything in that backpack of yours?"

"I don't have much," Jack said as he put his pack on the ground and opened it. "Ate most of it during my trip to Ironhand."

"Of course," Blazette said. "Typical human appetite. It's almost impressive."

"… Thanks," Jack dryly said. "Not so bad yourself."

Her eyes widened in anger. "_What_ did you say to me, human?!"

"Charlotte and Honetsu are bringing more supplies with them," Minerva intervened. "We just have to wait for them to catch up."

They divided the little food they had among them. After finishing that, they decided to continue almost immediately.

Jack proceeded to follow Blazette again. This time, Iris walked next to her, and the two started a conversation. It was the kind of talk you'd expect to see between two friends, albeit with one stoic and one grumpy person.

Jack felt a little tension rise when Minerva went to walk next to him.

"You're fast," Minerva eventually said. "You really caught me off-guard back there on the bridge. You even disarmed me."

"Learned that back home," Jack softly said. "And from the Overworld mobs."

She looked at him. "The Overworld mobs? Did Athena…?"

"Yeah. She alone taught me a lot about fighting—in just two weeks."

"You can't have become that skilled in two weeks."

"Like I said, I also learned things back at home."

Minerva regarded him. "Who are you, really?" she finally asked. She didn't sound angry or impatient. "Where're you from?"

He hesitated.

"One thing you should know…" Minerva said. "I was bluffing about that poison thing."

"Really? So you can't…?"

"I can," she said. "But I wasn't going to. I don't like torture. And neither does Blazette, by the way." She sounded honest, but Jack knew how good Athena was at fooling people. He wouldn't be surprised if Minerva was just as skilled.

"So…what, she was bluffing too?" Jack asked.

"I know it didn't look like it," Minerva said, "but trust me, I know her. Her temper is a little short, but she's not as…sadistic…as she seems." She paused. "She might've burned you if you'd hurt anyone here, though."

"That I understand."

She paused, glancing away. "I just…want to apologize for threatening you back there."

"Eh, I have that effect on people sometimes."

She raised an eyebrow. "Problems in the Overworld?"

"Disagreeing with the humans' views on mobs in the Overworld can get you some enemies."

"Tell me about it," she said. "How'd you become a sympathizer? You weren't really raised in a family of sympathizers, were you?"

"No, I wasn't," he admitted. "Where I'm from, there are no mobs. Just humans."

"Really? Must be a boring place."

"Anyway, when I found out that mobs weren't as monstrous as the local humans in the Overworld said they were, I…went rogue."

"How long ago was that?"

He took a moment to count the days. "A little over four weeks ago, I think."

"Four weeks, huh?"

"It all really started a day after I got to the Overworld."

"That's not very long ago. You left anyone behind in your own…place?"

An image of his parents flashed before his eyes. "… Yeah," he sighed.

She frowned. "Then why go to the Overworld at all? If you still have friends in your homeplace…"

"I didn't leave," Jack grimly said. "I was _taken_."

He basically _felt _her confusion.

"I didn't even know the Overworld existed until then," Jack continued. "I don't even know for sure who or what brought me here in the first place. I was hoping Herobrine could shed some light on that, too."

"He mentioned it in that dream of yours?"

"No, that dream was about…something else. I was hoping he could send me back to where I'm from."

"And leave your friends in the Overworld?"

Jack fell silent. "They'll understand," he finally said.

Minerva glanced at him.

He glanced back. "What about you? Do you have any plans of going back to the Overworld?"

"I want to see Athena again someday," Minerva said. "So…yeah. I want to go back to the Overworld at some point. I just don't know for sure when."

"How come you haven't started looking for her already?"

Minerva remained silent at first. "I…" she finally said. "Let's just say that I can't blame her for thinking I've gone insane. We went our separate ways after a…disagreement."

"Must've been a really bad disagreement, then."

She shot him a look. "It was. She was too scared to go to the Nether; we didn't know enough about the place to be sure that it was safe. I was fed up with being hunted by humans all the time, and I was desperate to get away from that. So I just abandoned her there.

"Not long after that, I…came to my senses. I wanted to go back to the Overworld, but I couldn't; she'd buried the portal on her side. I could go through it, but not much further—the portal was located in an old ruin, and she'd somehow brought the entire place down. I have no idea where she went after that."

Jack remained silent. Athena never mentioned any of this; she always spoke so highly of Minerva, fondly recalling memories of the time before they got separated. Not once did she mention a fight between them.

Minerva looked at him. "Any suspects on who might've taken you to the Overworld?" she asked.

Jack nodded, pretending to not notice the sudden change in subject. "Áhýdan," he said. "Herobrine mentioned him in that dream of mine."

"… Áhýdan, huh…"

He turned to her. "You mentioned his name back at the fortress. What can you tell me about him?"

She glanced back at him, suddenly looking very uncertain. "I don't know much," she said, "but there are a few things—"

"You two," Blazette intervened. "We're here."

She pointed. Jack looked and saw something…not very impressive. He'd expected Herobrine's base to stand out—like a castle or even just a tower—but all he saw was a set of stairs leading upwards into a netherrack wall. The entrance at the end of the stairs didn't look dissimilar to that of a mineshaft.

Next to him, Minerva let out a chuckle. "Underwhelming, right?" she said. "Yeah, when I first saw it, I thought the same thing."

"That's Herobrine's…home?" Jack asked.

"You could say that," Minerva affirmed. "Let's go in there. There're a few things we need to do before we go to him."

"Like what?"

She didn't reply; she just gestured with her head to the stairs. Jack followed Blazette and Iris into the mountain.

It really was a mineshaft, albeit one in the Nether. Immediately following the entrance, there was a small room that stood at the core of an intersection. The hallways were lit with weak, reddish torches. Redstone torches, Jack assumed.

"Jack," Iris said, pointing with her sword to the hallway on their left. "That way."

"You three go ahead," Blazette said. "See if the human can make sense of things there. I'm going to this place's little break room and wait for Charlotte and Honetsu to catch up."

She turned and went into the right hallway. Jack frowned and turned to the other two. "Make sense of what?"

"Can you read?" Iris asked.

Jack nodded.

"Good," Iris said. "Thing is, we can't. Herobrine left something in this place. We think it's a message."

"Why would he leave a message you can't read?"

Iris shrugged. "Let's find out."


	11. The future

_Chapter ten: The future_

Cassandra heard someone approach. She looked up to see Ari walking towards her.

She sighed, letting her shoulders hang and sitting back down, staring at the small lake before her. It was one of the many lakes in the Realm that surrounded the largest one near the center.

Ari sat down next to her.

"I don't want to hear it," Cassandra said.

"Hear what?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Cassandra said. "I don't like being confronted about it."

"About you wanting to look for Jack."

She glanced at Ari. "Yeah."

"I thought you hated him."

"Maybe I did."

"I thought you mistrusted him."

"I did. But if he's really prepared to risk his life like this, how _could_ I?"

"He's risked his life before. You didn't seem to care much."

"I didn't trust him because he had secrets!" Cassandra said as she stood up. "But he still saved Yaebi. _Twice_. I just _ignored_ that. And now he…" She wavered. "He's going to die because I…"

Ari sighed, standing up as well. "Cass… He didn't leave because of you."

"Maybe he wouldn't've gone away if I'd been less…less harsh…"

"He would've gone anyway," Ari softly said. "I mean, does he seem like the guy who leaves everything behind because one person hurts his feelings? Does he seem like the kind of guy whose feelings can _be_ hurt? Jack went on a fool's errand because of some dream. Or because Herobrine started messing with his head or something. None of this is your fault, Cass."

Cassandra glanced at her. Her eyes were glistening. "When you suggested those dreams might be real," she eventually said in a ragged voice, "did you really believe that?"

"Not really," Ari admitted. "What about you?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore. You're right about me—I really _am_ a hypocrite. I barely know whose side I'm really on."

"And still you want to go look for him." Ari hesitated. "And…if you're going, then I don't think there's anything I could do to stop you, so…I'll join you instead."

Cassandra paused. She looked at Ari, surprised.

"I don't know what he's really trying to do," Ari said. "But I'm not going to let you go alone."

Cassandra looked at her sister.

Then she hugged Ari, catching the elder off-guard.

* * *

The hallway Iris and Minerva led Jack through ended in a dark netherrack room that didn't look like it belonged in a mine.

Jack looked around. The few weak, blood-red torches that were present were placed in sconces on pillars. The little light they provided was just about enough to illuminate the room for the most part.

In a corner, a few metal rods leaned against the wall, reflecting some of the light. They looked a little out of place, partly because they didn't have a speck of rust on them.

Against the wall stood a table of dark red stone. A single sheet of paper lay on it. It was accompanied by a simple chair. Jack curiously moved towards it.

He frowned as he got closer. This paper didn't look anything like the parchment he'd seen in the Overworld. This looked more…neat. Like…

_Like the kind of paper they use on Earth._

"There," Minerva said. "That table."

Jack glanced at her, then sat down at the table. He looked at the paper. The letters that formed the message looked like they'd come from a printer—no one could possibly mimic that so perfectly.

As if this wasn't enough to unnerve him, the first three words of the message caught his eye instantly. He froze.

"Can you read it out loud?" Iris asked.

Jack nodded slowly.

_Harrison Jack Snyder,_ he read.

He looked at the girls to see their reactions. They both frowned, confused.

"How long has this been here?" Jack finally asked.

"This all…" Minerva said, gesturing to the room around her. "For as long as we can remember. That message only appeared recently."

"How recent?"

The girls shared a glance. "A year and a half, at least," Iris said.

"_What_?" Jack said. "You're saying that whoever wrote this knew I'd come here a _year and a half_ before it actually happened?"

"From what I've heard," Iris said, "Herobrine's not bound to time as strictly as we are; I don't know if he can actually see the future like it's set in stone, but he has a better understanding of time as a whole. Maybe he predicted this…?"

"Keep reading," Minerva said. "I'd like to know what else he's written."

Jack obeyed, reading out loud.

_Harrison Jack Snyder._

_By the time you read this, you will have suffered some confusing, disheartening, frustrating events, the most prominent one being your abduction from your world. Following that, you made allies that most humans would frown at with a stubborn disgust. You will either have abandoned those allies to come here, or you will have convinced them to accompany you._

_Before you continue reading, I will make one thing clear: You were taken to the Overworld for a reason. No, this is not some prophecy; this is merely a plan, forged by a being of incomprehensible power—me._

"What an ego," Jack commented.

"Well, he's not wrong," Iris said.

"Assuming Herobrine really is the one who wrote this to begin with," Minerva said.

Jack continued reading. _You have been doubting the reality of these worlds, unsure as to what they truly are, but the connections they have to your world are little more than ideas that have been placed into the heads of creators._

"What does that even mean?" Minerva asked. "Creators…?"

_Game creators_, Jack thought. _He's talking about Minecraft._ "It doesn't matter."

She frowned, and he continued.

_In other words, the similarities are not a complete coincidence, but these worlds are nevertheless their own—not the artificial copies you have come to know._

"Okay, that just makes things weirder," Minerva said. "I'm assuming you know what this guy's talking about?"

"Guess he didn't predict me reading this to you," Jack sighed. "Look, if this letter's telling the truth, then trust me that it's really not important. I just want to finish this as soon as possible."

Deep down, he felt a weight being removed from him. Finally he had some sort of confirmation about what these worlds really were, and he was very glad that this _wasn't_ Minecraft. If it had been, he wouldn't have been sure if the friends he'd made were anything more than code.

_Especially Andr, right?_ a completely random voice said in his head. _After all, she's a little more than a friend to y—_

_Quiet_, he told himself. Seemed like his mental conflict was back. He suppressed it.

He continued. _There are other things you must be made aware of. Soon. The earlier Áhýdan has been taken care of, the better. Return to this mine's intersection and take the path opposite of the entrance. Bring the Blaze with you. She will be able to help from there._

"The Blaze?" Minerva said. "He means Blazette?"

Jack nodded, keeping his face straight. "Probably. I heard the Hunters of Ironhand gave each mob a nickname like that."

Minerva nodded. "The Blaze, huh… Not too bad, I guess. It fits her. Wonder what my codename is."

"I think it's the Wither Skeleton," Jack absently said.

"How do you know that?"

"Not important."

The letter didn't have much more to say.

_Sincerely,_

_Herobrine._

Jack shuddered upon reading that name. So this letter _had_ come from Herobrine. How did he know Jack would come here? _Was_ he actually able to foresee the future…? Or was he just able to calculate the most likely outcome of an event like this?

Or was it just a guess, a mere hope that this plan the letter had mentioned was actually going to come to pass?

"What is Herobrine, exactly?" Jack asked. "Some kind of ghost?"

"He doesn't talk much about his past or what he is," Iris said. "All we know for sure is that he rules the Nether."

Jack looked at her. "You met him in person?"

She nodded. "Not often, but sometimes. His daughter's a bit more talkative."

"He has a daughter?!"

"Really," Minerva said, "she's basically a copy of Herobrine himself, though with some very obvious differences. He…designed her, I guess you could say." She turned around. "Anyways, now that we know what the letter says, let's go see Blazette. Think on what we just learned before we meet our oh so powerful lord Herobrine." She paused, then glanced at Jack. "So…your first name is actually Harrison?"

Jack gave her an unamused look. "Seriously? That's the only thing in that letter that got your attention?"

"Why use your middle name? What's wrong with your first?"

"Nothing's 'wrong'," Jack said, mildly annoyed. "My father and brother use their middle names too; I figured I might as well continue that tradition."

He stood up from his seat—taking the letter with him—and followed the mobs to the break room, which he noticed looked kind of like the conference room in Athena's old home, if a little larger. Blazette lazily sat on a netherrack chair, but she stood up when the others came in. She looked at them expectantly.

"I guess I should just read it again," Jack sighed. He held up the letter and took a breath.

"Wait," Minerva said.

Jack frowned, then saw she was looking at something behind him. He turned around to see two new faces, one of which he realized he'd seen before. The other one timidly lingered near the room's entrance.

The familiar one was Honetsu—Gelli's oldest sister, whom Jack had briefly met in the Nether fortress. She had a pack on her back. The other one was a girl Jack hadn't seen before, but looking at her white hair and clothing gave him an idea which mob it was.

"Yes," Blazette said. "Food delivery. I'm starving over here."

* * *

Mystia cursed under her breath as she accidently knocked an urn off the table. She kneeled down to pick it back up, only to find out that the powder inside had spread all over the floor. It was going to take a while to gather it all.

As she went to collect it, still cursing, the door opened and Sylvia entered. The young mob carried a wooden box with ingredients that she placed in the corner. Then she walked back towards the door.

Mystia came to her senses at the last second. "Wait," she hastily said.

Sylvia looked at her.

Mystia stumbled to her feet. "Can we talk, Syl?"

The silverfish nodded, then sat down on a spare seat. Mystia sat down as well.

"There's this whole thing going on with Jack," Mystia said. "I want to form a plan with whoever's willing to come with me."

"Okay… Well, I'd just get in the way, so…" Sylvia stood up, but Mystia gestured for her to sit back down.

"Look, I just…" Mystia fell silent. "I know you're doubtful about this situation. You think Jack might be a spy…"

"I don't know what to believe."

"Either way, you're not in a very comfortable place right now."

"No one is."

"But the two of us especially. With what we've kept from him…"

"With what _you_ told me not to tell him."

Mystia fell silent.

Sylvia looked up at her, glaring. "You said," she quietly said, "that he wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. That we still had enough time to wait before telling him."

Mystia looked down.

"And what were we waiting for?" Sylvia continued. "I just blindly trusted you. I didn't tell him because of you. I'm to blame for this too, but you're the one who said we'd keep it a secret. You're the one who set that in motion."

"You're right," Mystia softly said. "You were right the whole time…and now I want to make up for that. To you and to Jack. That's why I'm going after him." She took a deep breath. "If you want to come along, you can. You won't get in the way—the more people we have, the better."

Sylvia held her gaze for a moment longer. "Then," the mob finally said, "I'll come with you. Not for you, but for him. And for the others."


	12. Divided we fall

**NovaOrAvon: **_Thank you! I'm really glad you like the story so far and that you find it unique. Though I was under the impression that there was a fair share of stories that had the mobs play the role of feared/misunderstood targets or outcasts (such as _Changing Destiny_), but I haven't been actively looking around lately so I can't speak with authority on that.  
I'm also glad to hear that you ship Jack and Andr, because… Well, let's just say that that means I'm not the only one.  
As a side note, I mess up with exact dates and times for things all the time, so you're certainly not the only one._

* * *

_Chapter eleven: Divided we fall_

After lunch—at least, that's what the mobs said it was; Jack still couldn't tell time here—the human stood up from his makeshift seat and proceeded to head back towards the intersection. He hadn't even made it out of the breakroom when Minerva suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

Jack frowned at her. "What?" he gruffly said.

"First of all, you could try being a little more polite."

"Not my forte," Jack said. "I reckoned you already knew that by now—especially after that letter. Besides, Herobrine told me in that dream of mine that we had to hurry."

"What's a few more hours after a year and a half?"

"Well then, what do you want me to do? Sit down and relax? Not my forte either."

She let go of his arm. "Come with me for a sec."

She led him to the room where they'd found the message. Jack frowned. Was there something else there?

Minerva walked over to the staffs in the corner, grabbed one and tossed it over to him. He caught it and observed it. The weighty staff was a little shorter than he was and seemed to be made of gleaming silver or steel.

"You ever used one of those before in a fight?" Minerva asked.

"Once," Jack said, remembering his battle with Raulyn. "Had some practice before that. Learned some more from my friends in the Overworld later on—" He cut himself off when Minerva swung her sword at him. He backed off and raised the staff weapon defensively when she attacked again, resulting in a blade lock.

"Once, huh?" Minerva said with a grin. "Who'd you fight?"

Jack paused. "Someone…" he finally said. "Someone who ended up stabbing me in the stomach."

Minerva gave a push with her sword and backed away. "Really? Did they have poison on their sword?"

"Don't think so."

"Well, _I do_." She moved in for another attack, which Jack deflected.

"You're crazy," Jack grunted.

"Relax, this is just training. Nobody's going to poison you."

"You sure? What about Blazette?"

She chuckled, then she attacked—for real this time, it seemed. Jack was able to defend himself at first, but she was too fast for him and ended with the tip of her sword against his neck. Immediately after that, she backed away. "You're not bad," she said, "for a human. Let's try that again."

Jack reassumed his stance, grumbling. "You could at least warn me next time you try to slice me to pieces."

"Where's the fun in that?" She slashed at him a few times, and he blocked, backing away. "So, about Áhýdan…"

"Right," Jack said, moving to the side before his back hit the wall. "You were going to tell me about him."

"I don't know much." Their weapons clashed, but it was evident that Minerva was still holding back in her attacks. "Like I said, Herobrine doesn't talk much about his past."

"So he and Herobrine have a history, then?"

"They go way back." She feinted a slash. Jack was just able to stop her following attack from striking his back. "They used to be like brothers, basically. Then Áhýdan went insane, forcing Herobrine to lock him away in the deepest part of the Nether."

Jack frowned, suddenly remembering something the very last segment of his dream—a four-sentenced message, spoken by a foreign voice, accusing Herobrine of being the real enemy.

_HEROBRINE MADE ME INTO WHAT I AM TODAY._

"That's it?" Jack skeptically asked. "He just went insane? For no reason?"

She shrugged. "That's what I've heard. But my gut tells me that there must've been something that made such a powerful creature as him go mad."

"Any theories as to what?"

"Well, apparently something or someone wronged Áhýdan in some way, and Áhýdan wanted revenge. Judging from what I and the others have learned so far, our main theory is that Herobrine tried to stop him from getting that revenge, and Áhýdan's short-temperedness couldn't cope with that." She shrugged. "We can't know for sure though. What we do know is that Áhýdan's apparently made himself at home in his new prison."

"Made himself at home? What does that mean?"

"He's been…messing around. It's a madhouse down there, from what I've heard. In order to make sure he doesn't get killed, Áhýdan created his five 'Trials' to stop any human associate Herobrine might've chosen."

"Sounds cheesy."

She grinned. "Oh, trust me; from what I've heard, they're more like death traps than they are trials. He even gave each of them a name."

"I don't want to know their names. Just what they involve. If Herobrine wants me as his 'associate', I want to know what to expect."

She attacked and he blocked. As the two weapons made contact, Minerva swiftly kicked his knee. Surprised by her strength, Jack struggled to keep his balance. Minerva prepared for another attack, but Jack moved his staff weapon so that one end deflected Minerva's blade while the other hit her cheekbone.

The two combatants moved away from one another, recovering. There was a brief silence between them.

"Sorry," Jack said.

"No, no. That was good. I just wanted to know how hard you could hit." Minerva smirked. "I'm going to stop holding back now though."

"Great," Jack sighed.

"Áhýdan's Trials…" Minerva said. "I don't know for sure what they involve. No one does—not even Herobrine, I think. He's been losing control over the prison to Áhýdan recently."

"Áhýdan's conquering his own prison? Then what's the point of keeping him there in the first place?"

She rolled her eyes, then attacked. Jack was just able to deflect some blows, after which Minerva backed away again.

"It's not Herobrine's fault," Minerva said. "Áhýdan is…merging with the chains that keep him in that prison."

"'Merging'?"

"Even Herobrine didn't anticipate it—and that shows just how smart Áhýdan is. Right now, Áhýdan can move freely through his prison, but thanks to those chains he can't travel to other worlds. He's trapped. Ironically enough, binding himself to those chains like he's doing now would—theoretically—grant him near unlimited access to most other worlds, and seeing how destructive he is nowadays, that's going to cause problems."

"Slow down," Jack said. "I'm about as sharp as a baseball bat. Are you saying we have to stop him before he can fully merge with these chains of his?"

"Unless we want to see him level a few worlds in a fit of rage, yes."

"You knew this all along, and you didn't think my sudden arrival had anything to do with it?"

"Honestly, I expected Herobrine to ask for our help when the time came. Why he waited until now probably has something to do with the weird ways he and his supernatural friends think and act. Why he'd choose a human over a group of mobs is completely beyond me though. No offense."

"None taken. I'm assuming he had me come here so he could take me back home."

They clashed again.

"You really want Herobrine to take you back to your world?" Minerva softly asked.

Jack gave her an annoyed look. "Minerva. I've got people who care about me there. They have no idea where I am right now."

"But what about your friends in the Overworld?"

"Like I said, they'll understand." For the first time, Jack attacked. He couldn't land a hit on her, but it didn't end in his defeat either. "You got separated from Athena, remember?"

Her eyes narrowed. "That's different. Going from the Nether to the Overworld and back is just a matter of walking through a portal." She pointed at him with her sword. "It doesn't work like that for most worlds. Should you return to your world, I doubt you'd be able to come back here easily."

He huffed. "Are you seriously saying I should just…just _walk away_ from my family?!"

Her gaze softened ever so slightly.

"Look," Jack said, "I don't like leaving the Overworld mobs either, but I don't see any other way. I like having friends, but at the end of the day, blood is still thicker than water."

She attacked. Another blade lock. They glared at each other. "_Find_ a way, then," she said. "Before you leave."

"Mystia has been trying to bring me back, but she hasn't even been able to give me a one-way ticket so far—let alone a way to go back and forth. _You_ just said it was impossible!" He felt her add more force to the blade lock, and he responded by doing the same.

"I _said_ it probably wouldn't be easy," Minerva said, "but I don't know if it's possible or not. All I'm asking is for you to _be patient _and reconsider your plan before you meet Herobrine."

"Oh, and you would _surely_ take your sweet time 'being patient' if you knew where Athena was, wouldn't you!"

That made her eyes go wide. With her sword, she shoved her opponent's weapon to the side, after which she sliced a horizontal cut just above his right knee with rage-fueled speed.

Surprised, Jack collapsed to one knee—dropping the staff weapon—as Minerva backed away. Jack looked at the cut with a grunt; a dark grey liquid had mixed with his blood. The wound wasn't remarkably deep, but it hurt badly nonetheless.

Within a matter of moments, a sharp prickling sensation engulfed his entire leg. That must've been the poison Minerva had mentioned. Jack grunted as the pain spread.

"Minerva!" Iris' stern voice sounded. From the corner of his eye, Jack saw her figure approach.

Minerva growled and walked out of the room.

Iris walked over to Jack. "Stay calm," Iris said. "She didn't give you a lethal dose. If she had, she wouldn't have been so dismissive about it."

Jack looked up; Iris was offering her hand. He took it and lifted himself up, balancing on his good leg.

"Shit," Jack growled as he leaned against the wall. The pain was slowly spreading to the rest of his body. "That poison…"

"Hold still." She kneeled down and examined the cut. "It's not too deep, but I don't want to take any chances. I brought something in case one of you would get hurt during this training session."

She offered what looked like a healing potion. It wasn't the one she'd taken from Jack; this bottle was larger, and the glass seemed a little worn. Jack took it with shaking hands and gulped it down. He felt the wound close, but the poison was still in his veins. It had spread to his torso, although the pain gradually lost its potency as it diffused.

"The more the poison spreads," Iris said, "the less effective it becomes. Eventually your body will purge itself. Just wait for a bit and you'll be fine."

"Thank you," Jack said.

She regarded him. "Look," she said, "I heard the entire conversation. What you said—"

Jack felt his anger return. "_She_ was the one who said I had to stay here!"

"And she was in the wrong," Iris calmly said, completely unfazed by Jack's outburst. "But Athena is a sensitive subject, too. Minerva's really ashamed about abandoning her, so bringing her up in any way can have bad results—especially during a heated discussion."

"Then why does she want me to abandon my world?"

"She doesn't want you to abandon your world _or_ the Overworld—just like she doesn't want to abandon _us_ if she finds Athena."

"Should be easy for her to do, since the only thing that separates the Overworld and the Nether is a magic portal."

"She has the means to get to Athena and back, yes. But she doesn't know where Athena is. You have it the other way around: You know exactly where your family is, but you can't get there."

"You going to tell me I should wait, too?"

"No. I'm not going to pretend to know the right answer here. If I were in your or Minerva's position, I don't think I would do things any differently." She paused. "Wait for a few minutes, then talk to her. Clear the air. You might never get the chance again."

Jack instinctively wanted to object, but he forced down his lingering anger and nodded silently.

* * *

Mystia and Sylvia looked up from the maps before them when the door to the Realm's new conference room opened. Mystia immediately straightened her back and drew her lips to a line.

Athena and Yaebi used thick white blankets of wool—there were a lot of sheep in the Realm—to protect themselves from the sun, but they lowered them once they were inside. They were followed by Cassandra and Ari.

"Well, well, well," Mystia said with a hint of smugness in her voice. "If it isn't the skeptics whose first instincts were to leave without all the answers."

She was met with unamused looks.

"And their younger siblings, of course," Mystia hastily added.

"You want a bigger team or not?" Cassandra asked. "Besides, you were the one who suggested some of us go to a rendezvous point."

"Alright, alright." The witch gestured to the maps. "Sylvia and I have been looking at these maps, trying to design a strategy to get into Ironhand. Thing is, most ideas we've had so far require certain mobs—Andr's teleportation power could come in handy for reconnaissance."

"To find the Nether portal," Sylvia added. "None of the maps we have here show where in Ironhand it is."

As if on cue, the door opened again, and Andr entered the room. She was followed by Cupa.

"Hey," Cupa softly said. "Gelli said you guys were here to form a plan, so…"

Mystia looked at the girl in green, her eyes narrowed. "Well… If it isn't the one who came up with the whole spy theory—"

"Can you stop being smug for two seconds?" Cassandra interrupted. "You _just_ mentioned that Andr's teleportation would be helpful, so stop complaining already."

Mystia threw up her hands. "What? Cupa is one of the reasons why our group got divided in the first place."

"I _know_ that," Cupa said. "I _know_ you're angry. I _know_ that my 'spy theory' hasn't exactly been speeding things up, okay? And I'm sorry, I really am. All I wanted to do was rationalize the situation and make everyone aware of a possible danger."

"A few weeks ago," Mystia said, "you said that you hated seeing Jack get an enemy's treatment."

"I _do_, I just…" She trailed off. "I'm sorry."

"That's easy to say after the fact."

"Alright," Ari intervened. "Enough already, Mystia. You can yell at us whatever you want _after_ our mission is done. Until then, we're supposed to work together. Can you do that? 'Cause there's going to be little room for error once we leave the Realm."

The witch grumbled something, but nodded.

Ari glanced at Cupa—who was looking to the ground in shame—and gave her an encouraging slap on the shoulder.

Not long after, the door opened again. Gelli and Kelly entered hesitantly.

Athena showed a small smile upon seeing them. "Well… Looks like we're not so divided after all."


	13. Herobrine

**NovaOrAvon: **_I did base the chapter name off that very saying, but I have no concrete plans of using the other half for a chapter—at least, not yet. It's not really fit for this chapter anyway.  
The reason why this story updated so early from your point of view is because of the time zones. I live in the Netherlands; I'm not sure what country you live in, but if it happens to be located on North America, then there's a time difference of about six to ten hours._

* * *

_Chapter twelve: Herobrine_

Jack found Minerva just outside the mine entrance. She had her back turned to him, holding her sword with the point on the ground.

Upon seeing her, Jack hesitated, thinking about what to say—only for Minerva to speak first.

"Don't mention her again."

Jack almost rolled his eyes. Of course she had heard him approach. Athena's ears were amazingly sharp; unsurprisingly, Minerva seemed to share that trait.

She glanced back at him, dropping her commanding tone. "How's the leg?" she softly asked.

"Fine."

She sighed. "Look… You were right. If I knew where Athena was, I would go to her without hesitation. I know you're in a tough position too, and I shouldn't have said…what I said."

Jack went to stand next to her. "Neither should I," he admitted. "I was out of line, too."

"I guess," Minerva said. "But I knew that our situations were different, yet I pretended like I knew what you were going through. That was…"

"Judging from how humans look at mobs," Jack said, "I'm assuming your life wasn't exactly one of nonstop sunshine, either. And I've only really dealt with that kind of thing for a few weeks."

She paused. "Either way," she said, "I won't try stop you from leaving. Since Athena's been giving you fighting lessons though, I think it's safe to say that she trusts you. I guess I didn't want one of the few people she could trust to leave." She fully turned to him. "There's just one thing I need to ask of you."

"What's that?"

"When you meet Herobrine, and he is going to take you back to your world…could you please at least _ask_ him for an easy way back and forth? If he _can_ arrange something like that, maybe you can visit from time to time after all."

Jack considered that. Going back and forth between the Overworld and his world without letting his parents or siblings know about it was going to be difficult, and both worlds would contrast one another in terms of danger and culture… But that didn't make it a bad idea. Herobrine just had to make sure no one else from the Overworld could travel to Earth, or the other way around.

That'd probably be easy. Jack doubted Herobrine was going to put a portal smack in the middle of his bedroom.

"I'll ask him," he said. "Just don't hold your breath. I don't think he's going to agree."

She gave a small smile. "Thank you."

A brief silence fell. Jack glanced to the mine entrance. "So…what now?" he asked. "Should we meet with Herobrine? I don't want to sound impatient again, but I don't know how much time we have left."

She silently glanced at him. "You have the advantage against a sword," she finally said.

"What?"

"If you know how to use a quarterstaff properly," Minerva said, "you'll have the advantage. Most sword fighters need to get close first, depending on how big their weapon is; with a staff, you can use momentum to weaken their defenses and create an opening.

"Be careful though; if you're too slow or you use too much momentum, your enemy can eventually use that against you—especially if they deflect your attack, or parry with an attack of their own. Make sure you keep them at a distance, estimate the reach they might have with their weapon, and never assume they'll be easy to defeat."

Jack nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Sorry I couldn't give more advice there. Quarterstaffs aren't my specialty."

"That's fine. All help is welcome."

Another brief silence fell. Then Minerva turned to the mine entrance. "Let's go."

Jack followed her inside. She led him through the hallway straight ahead, the only hallway he hadn't been at yet.

"Those Trials Áhýdan set down in the prison?" Minerva said. "I've heard that the first one's called the 'Trial of the Body'."

He rolled his eyes. "He should've hired someone to think of better names."

She flashed a smile. "Well, the current names are all I can give you. Maybe they'll help you pass them, somehow."

"Okay," Jack said. "So, this 'Trial of the Body'… Any theories as to what it means? Is it some kind of strength test?" He snorted. "Do I have to lift weights?"

"Regardless of what it is, it's not the only one. There're also the Trials of Determination, Reality and the Elements."

"I thought you said there were five."

"There are five, but no one knows what the last one's called. Guess Áhýdan's done a pretty good job at hiding that one from Herobrine."

"Great. It's probably something like 'Trial of Doom'." He said the name with a mockingly exaggerated tone.

Minerva glanced at him. "So, if I get this correctly, Herobrine needs you to take Áhýdan down, somehow?"

"That's what he implied in that dream."

"Oh…"

Brief silence. "You think I'm going to have to pass these Trials," Jack said. It wasn't a question. "Somehow, that'll allow me to beat Áhýdan."

Minerva nodded, not looking at him. "Those Trials aren't meant for Herobrine—they pose no direct threat to him. Don't ask me why, but I think he needs help from a physical being like you or me in order to beat Áhýdan…and I think Áhýdan anticipated that."

"Why can't Herobrine just kill Áhýdan on his own?"

"I don't think he's powerful enough. Even with his daughter Hera, he can't win. Not without help, that is. It's actually happened a lot in the past that a creature like Herobrine needs a mortal for one reason or another."

_His daughter's name is Hera? As in, a female equivalent to Herobrine? Man, the spirits of this world lack creativity. _"But again, why me? I'm just a random guy. A human from a world where swords and whatnot are barely even used anymore. It's like you said—mobs are a better option."

"That might have something to do with Áhýdan bringing you here. But that doesn't matter; I talked to the others during lunch, and we've come to an agreement."

Jack looked at her questioningly.

"We're going to help you," Minerva said. "There's no way we're going to let you risk your life alone."

Jack fell silent. "Are you sure about that?" he eventually asked. "I mean…these Trials could be…really bad. And Herobrine might not agree."

"Well," Minerva said, "there's one more thing we know about the Trials: They aren't _complete_ death traps. A normal human could—theoretically—survive them. Should be easy when he's got a group of superhumans watching his back. And I can't see any reason why Herobrine would disagree."

Jack nodded, but he was still skeptic. He dismissed that. Minerva would know about these kinds of things, right? She'd lived in this world for long enough. "I appreciate it," Jack said.

"Running around dangerous obstacles and traps in a supernatural prison?" Minerva smirked. "How could we say no to that?"

The hallway had a dead end.

Jack stopped. "Herobrine's going to meet us in a dead end," he flatly said.

"No," Minerva sighed. "The pathway's collapsed again."

"The pathway's collapsed. In Herobrine's house."

She shook her head. "He prefers not to intervene too much in the Nether unless he has to. If he was a little more active, he might've introduced you to us when you came here, rather than letting us fight things out. Sometimes I think he intentionally blocks this particular hallway up."

"Sounds like he's kind of dumb," Jack said, frowning. The mobs had said Herobrine's way of thinking was complex, but removing this barricade had to be easy for him, right?

"I-I might be able to help here," someone behind them said. They turned to meet Charlotte, the mob with white hair that had accompanied Honetsu to the mine. Jack noticed she was floating above the ground a little.

Suspecting what was going to happen, Jack backed up until he stood behind Charlotte. Minerva followed suit. Then Charlotte lifted her hand, her palm aimed outward and at the barrier ahead.

A fiery orange light, originating from Charlotte's hand, briefly illuminated the room. Then an explosion sounded through the hallway. The shockwave caught Jack off-guard, and he almost fell.

He looked to see that the barricade was replaced by small pieces of netherrack, scattered over the floor. Charlotte didn't seem to be affected by the explosion. Might've had something to do with her being suspended in mid-air.

"That works," Jack said.

Charlotte glanced at him timidly. A hint of pride crossed her features.

"You don't look surprised at her power," Minerva said. "Did the _creators_ who made those _artificial copies_ tell you more about that, too?"

Her tone didn't sound hostile, but Jack gave her an unamused look nonetheless. She was talking about Herobrine's letter. "The less said about that," Jack grunted, "the better."

He turned to look ahead. Before him was a perfectly circular room with almost nothing in it. The ceiling was so high that it disappeared behind a thick reddish fog, yet at the same time the room was lit just about well enough to make everything in it clearly visible. Even the grey ground gave an ominous vibe.

In the middle of the room stood some kind of altar—a golden disc carrying a piece of netherrack, surrounded by four weak red torches whose dim light was the only source of illumination in the room.

Jack shivered a little as he went inside.

"Stay here," Minerva said. "I'm going to get the others."

"Blazette went to take a flight outside," Charlotte said. "I'll go get her."

They left. Jack kept staring at the altar. The hairs in the back of his neck stood up, and something prickled behind his eyes. Something about this was…really unnerving.

He kneeled down and touched the ground with his hand. It was harder than netherrack. It had an odd grey and black color.

_Might be bedrock_, a part of him thought. _Might not be bedrock. The letter said this wasn't Minecraft, so…_

_This was a mistake. _Coming here_ was a mistake._

_It really wasn't; I'm going to help Herobrine, then I'm going back home. Sounds perfect._

_Sounds more like I'm making a deal with a demon. A demon that's hiding something from me. This isn't going to end well._

_Sure it is. Áhýdan will no longer pose a threat after this, and I'll be back on Earth._

_But mobs will still be hunted._

A pause. _I can't do anything about that. I'm just one man._

_Maybe I could've done something. Eventually._

_Look—_

_No, I won't look! Minerva was right. I left the mobs in the Realm to be hunted by humans. They've been so good to me, and this is how I thank them? Cupa, Mystia, Athena—_

_But I was right, too. They'll understand. If they didn't want me to go, Mystia wouldn't be trying to find me a way home._

_Andr…_

Something made him freeze when that name popped up in his head. _No. Even if there _was_ something between me and her, I doubt it could turn into…well, an actual thing. She's a mob from the Overworld, I'm human from Earth… We're friends now, yes, but—_

"Hello?"

Still on one knee, Jack looked back. Honetsu approached from the hallway, looking at him with wary but curious eyes. Jack quickly stood up, relaxing his hands—which he'd unconsciously clenched into fists—without breaking eye contact.

"Hi," Jack said, half-growling. He realized he was sweating a little.

She carefully took a step closer. "Are you okay…?"

"Fine." He glanced at the altar behind him. "What is that thing?"

She looked at it thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure what it is or how it works. All anyone here knows is that it lets us talk to _him_ and his daughter. Occasionally."

"Why doesn't he just come here by himself?"

"He can be a traditionalist sometimes."

"Is that also why he didn't just contact me directly in the Overworld?"

She shook her head. "No. He can do whatever he likes in the Nether, but…" She trailed off.

"But what?"

"I'm not sure…" she said. "In other worlds, his power is limited for some reason. He can only use it to its fullest extent in his own domain—that being the Nether."

"And that doesn't freak you out?" Jack asked. "What if he someday decides to become like Áhýdan, huh? Doesn't that mean you're pretty much dead?"

She grimaced. "Yeah. He could wipe out the entire Nether with a single thought if he wanted. But so far that hasn't happened, and I doubt that's going to change soon. He's been the Nether's guardian for centuries."

"So you're not scared, then?"

She glanced at him, giving a sad smile. "I am scared. How could I not? But I don't have anywhere else to go. Like Iris and Minerva, I don't know where Gelli is." She paused. "But _you_ do."

Jack said nothing.

"Where are they?" Honetsu softly asked. "Please… We need to know. If we ever want to see them again…"

Jack hesitated. Despite everything, he was still apprehensive about telling the Nether mobs where their Overworld counterparts were. He wished he could say he wasn't entirely sure why, but he didn't have that luxury. He knew exactly why.

He still didn't trust them enough.

"Alright," Minerva called out as she entered the room, accompanied by Charlotte, Iris and Blazette. Jack sighed, breaking eye contact with Honetsu and turning to Minerva.

"What's happening now?" Jack asked, ignoring Honetsu's downcast look.

"Now," Blazette said as she stepped forward, "someone's got to light that altar thing on fire."

"You must be really glad," Jack said, "to finally get the chance to burn something today."

"Say another smart thing, and you're going to get burned today too."

"What's going to happen when Blazette lights that thing," Minerva said to Jack, "might be kind of…scary."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Scary…? Is it as scary as Blazette's retort from just now?"

"Remember what I said about being smart!" Blazette warned.

"Basically," Minerva said, "she's going to summon Herobrine with that thing. The…transition…might be overwhelming."

"… Okay, then," Jack hesitantly said. "Well…go ahead, I guess."

Blazette walked up to the object, stepped on the golden disc and put her hand on the netherrack. A moment later, it was on fire.

The moment the fire flared up, Jack felt a strange sensation go through him. He looked back to the room's entrance—only to see that it was replaced with a solid wall. He blinked.

Iris saw him look. "That's normal," she said, calm as ever. "We knocked on his door; all he needs to do now is welcome us to his house, and he can't have us run away before that."

Blazette smirked. "You scared, Jack? Yeah, you humans always act so big and bad until something interesting actually happens."

"Is it as interesting as lighting shit on fire?" Jack asked, trying to hide his nervousness.

Blazette's smirk turned into a glare. "I swear—you make fun of me one more time, even a little bit, and I _will _turn you into a steak."

"Sorry. Some people joke when they're nervous. I'm trying to see if it helps."

The fire on the altar suddenly grew. Its color turned from orange to bright blue, and the flames grew unnaturally violent, hurling large blue sparks in all directions. Jack could feel the fire's heat increase. It became brighter and brighter.

Jack covered his eyes and his face, but it was futile as the light intensified. The heat and the light overwhelmed him, _blinded_ him. He grunted, falling to one knee, facing away from the flame. It felt as if his skin was being scorched.

When he was sure he was going to pass out, the fire suddenly retreated. The intense light and heat became significantly less in mere seconds. Even the pain faded away.

Sweating, Jack looked over his shoulder.

In the fire stood a figure.

Jack rose, backing away from the person, who was looking at him with bright, white eyes. The man was enormous; about seven feet tall, with a broad chest and muscles that were visible from behind a light blue shirt.

The man's— No, the _creature_'s presence was…indescribable. One look at those blank eyes sent a shiver down Jack's spine, and it was obvious that this wasn't just some guy with weird powers. No, this thing was…incomprehensible.

Jack then noticed that the mobs were absent. So were the walls; the grey floor stretched out into infinity, completely flat, with a thick red fog in the distance.

**"****You are here,"** Herobrine spoke. Even his voice was otherworldly.

Jack remained silent. More sweat tickled his head.

**"****The mobs are safe,"** Herobrine continued emotionlessly. **"I only wanted to speak with you in private. You have many questions. Ask."**

Jack swallowed. Alrighty then… Straight to the point, huh? If Herobrine wanted him to ask, he was going to ask. But where should he begin?

"Where am I?" he finally asked. His voice was low. Raspy. "What's the connection this world has with mine?"

**"****There is no connection,"** Herobrine responded. **"Only a bleed-through."**

"A…what?"

**"****You have read my message. There is no connection; this world stands separate from its copy. This…videogame…is a result of a bleed-through."**

"What's a bleed-through?"

**"****Have you ever wondered why the Overworld's inhabitants speak your language?"**

Jack had noticed that when he'd just come into the Overworld. Raulyn—who greeted him there—spoke perfect English. He hadn't given it as much thought as he should've.

**"****Sometimes, elements from one world bleed through to others in the shape of ideas. Many of the Overworld's elements bled through to your world. The creators of your 'game' unknowingly caught these elements, allowing them to shape the world of this artificial copy you have experienced."**

Jack exhaled. "So, Minecraft and…the mod…are based on this world?" He paused. "These 'bleed-throughs'… How do they happen?"

**"****They are not unusual occurrences. Languages are frequently transferred from one world to another. The borders between worlds tend to be permeable at times."**

Jack exhaled. That was quite a bit to take in. At least Herobrine was brief and direct in his explanations—something Jack could appreciate.

**"****Keep asking. There is little time."**

Right. "Why am I here? Did you give me those nightmares?"

**"****Yes. I apologize if they were…disturbing."**

"Never mind that. You implied you needed me to fight Áhýdan."

**"****I do need you, yes. My former brother is threatening these worlds to spite me. I cannot let him attack it, but I will need a mortal human to help me; battling Áhýdan on my own brings risks. I need someone who is not bound to the Rule, and who can weaken Áhýdan whilst I face him directly."**

Jack frowned. "Slow down. The 'Rule'…?"

**"****A law that has been set up by…beings like me. It dictates that we cannot directly intervene outside our domain."**

"Is that why you gave me those nightmares?" Jack asked. "Because you couldn't come to me directly?"

Herobrine nodded. **"I cannot appear too often in the Overworld, especially after what I have done to you. By violating the Rule once, it has become more strict for me—if only for a time. But it was not enough to stop me from giving you those dreams and bringing you to the Nether."**

"Hold up," Jack said. "What do you mean, 'after what you've done to me'? When did you break this Rule?"

Herobrine remained silent.

"You told me to ask," Jack said with a growl, his frustration outweighing his fear. Herobrine didn't seem to want to hurt him anyway. "Now I'm asking. What else do you want?"

Herobrine sighed, looking down. His eyes displayed…shame? **"I violated the Rule,"** he said, **"when I took you from your home to the Overworld."**

Silence.

"Uh… Wh-what?" Jack asked. He let out a chuckle. "What? No, that can't be right. It was Áhýdan who did that, wasn't it?"

**"****Even if the Rule did not exist, Áhýdan could not touch you. He is imprisoned."**

"No, no, n…" Jack felt himself get dizzy. He turned back and took a few steps. "Wh…what…why, you…y…!" With wide, feral eyes, he glared at Herobrine.

Even though he finally knew it made sense. It was simple: Herobrine needed him to fight Áhýdan, so he brought him here. And why would Áhýdan waste effort taking a human from another world when he was already busy enough making his grand escape, anyway?

**"****You were brought to the Overworld by me,"** Herobrine softly said. **"My fellows did not like this; I had violated the Rule. But they did not stop me. Only if I had gone even farther would they have intervened."**

"They…didn't care…" Jack unsteadily blurted out. "What…what is this to them… What's this to you?! A game?"

**"****A means to an end."**

"Why…"

**"****No one in the Overworld would trust me. The few exceptions to that hate mobs or humans, or they do not have access to a Nether portal. Or they have some other limitation that makes them unsuited. You, Jack, are someone with a fresh view on everything in these worlds. A mob sympathizer who can also support humans is exactly what I need."**

"WHY! YOU—!"

**"****And you have done well so far. Following your rebellion against the Hunters in Ironhand, the village's inhabitants have silently begun to wonder if their view on mobs is too dogmatic. This is a secondary reason why I need a mortal man. If the Overworld people come to know that you—the one who defied the Hunters—assisted in eliminating this threat to their world, you will become a symbol. They will be inspired by you, and take your way of thinking more seriously. This may indirectly create a peace between humans and mobs."**

Jack was seething. "I am NOT a symbol. I'm not some…some 'hero' who 'saves the world' and 'creates peace'. The humans of the Overworld hate me. And I never asked to be taken here in the first place!"

**"****I know, and I am sorry."**

"Take me back to Earth. _Now_."

Herobrine's expression hardened. **"I cannot do that."**

"You can and you will!"

**"****You are here for a cause that is greater than you."**

"And what makes you think I'm just going to cooperate, huh?"

**"****I do not need your cooperation. Even after taking you to the Overworld, I continued violating the Rule, albeit to a lesser extent."**

"I don't c—!"

**"****Do you truly believe you abandoned your friends in the Fallen Realm because you believed I would or would not take you to your home? Or because you felt obligated to fight Áhýdan?"** He paused, letting that sink in. **"Aside from those dreams I gave you, I influenced your mind continually, slowly convincing you to come to the Nether. You have felt it, have you not? Those conflicts you have been having with yourself?**

**"****It was me who told you to go to the Nether, and it was you who disagreed. When you came through that portal, your mind became even more aggressive in that battle. But now that you are here, you are under my complete control. You could not walk away even if the portal was directly next to you."**

"That…was you…?" So it was true; something had been influencing his mind, even before he came to the Nether. But it hadn't been Áhýdan.

Then he remembered something. His dream.

And the four-sentenced message at the end, the one that was always different. The one that warned him of Herobrine.

_HE IS LYING TO YOU._

_I AM NOT THE ENEMY._

_HE IS._

_HEROBRINE MADE ME INTO WHAT I AM TODAY._

"So…" Jack said, shaking in anger. "First you have Áhýdan turn against you, and now you want me to clean up your mess?"

Herobrine tilted his head, frowning.

"I know it was you! You're the reason Áhýdan's threatening the Overworld in the first place, aren't you?"

For the first time during that conversation, Herobrine looked stunned.** "How… How do you know…!?"**

"Those dreams you gave me? I always got a message at the end. Little different every time, but it always blamed you for this whole situation."

A silence fell. Herobrine just looked at Jack, dumbfounded, while Jack defiantly glared back.

**"****So…"** Herobrine said. **"He has already made it that far in his journey to the Overworld. To be able to create dreams like I do…"** He paused, looking ashamed again. **"It ****_is_**** my fault, yes."**

Jack felt a wide sadistic grin grow on his face. He felt like he was losing his mind. "Ha! I knew it. You're just too lazy to clean up your own mess, so you're having a mere mortal do it for you. Probably murder said mortal in the process, while you're at it."

**"****Áhýdan had an affinity for violence since the moment he came into existence. This was no fault of his; to his species—which are different from mine—instincts of violence are as normal as a mortal's instincts for survival. But Áhýdan learned to suppress that.**

**"****Even so, I became worried. Afraid of his suppressed dark side. So I prepared a prison. At a certain point in time—the Overworld's equivalent to your world's 303 BC—I wrongfully suspected that his instincts had taken him over, and so I attempted to imprison him. I failed. Enraged, Áhýdan turned against me…only to be imprisoned over a century later."**

"So _you _were the one Minerva mentioned," Jack said. "The guy who pissed Áhýdan off. You're the one he has a problem with, and now the Overworld is going to have to pay for it, so you need a human from Earth to fix it for you." He let out a cynical laugh. "Great job."

Herobrine gave him a death glare.

"What?" Jack said. He wasn't scared anymore. "Can't a man point out some sweet irony in his final moments?"

**"****Remember, Jack, you are in my domain. I can hurt you."**

"Go ahead, then."

Herobrine's narrowed eyes stayed on Jack for a while longer, before the spirit averted his gaze, his expression softening and turning into regret.

"That's what I thought," Jack finally said. "So, seeing how I'm your puppet now, I guess there isn't much else worth doing."

**"****You did not ask about them."**

"What?"

**"****Your parents. You never asked me how they have fared since your departure."**

Jack shrugged. "Does it matter?" he asked in a low, tired voice. His sadistic grin was gone. He felt empty. "I'm not going to be seeing them anymore. Minerva said those Trials were death traps, so…"

**"****But—"**

"SHUT UP. My life was never any of your business to begin with. I don't need you of all people to tell me about it."

Herobrine finally fell silent.


	14. Mark of the shadow

**NovaOrAvon:** _I'm not going to confirm or deny the mysterious mob's identity. I am going to say that while I do like your way of thinking here, there are a few flaws to the theory.  
The part where she met Jack shortly after Raulyn and Kai's conversation could've been a coincidence; Christine found herself near the church, after all, and that's not odd given her status. Furthermore, she says that she doesn't know who in Ironhand supports mobs and who doesn't—only that there were people in the Overworld who openly stood up for mobs, and got imprisoned or killed as a result. Knowing about the existence of these imprisoned or dead sympathizers is enough for her to at least suspect that there are more, but they cannot openly say this without suffering the same fates as their predecessors—and neither can Christine herself.  
In this story, villagers are human, and I personally did not know about that character model thing. I did base Minerva and Athena's names on Greek and Roman mythology, but it has no deeper meaning; I just thought it was fitting because of Athena's affinity with fighting and the bow and arrow. The reason why these two seem like Overworld/Nether equivalents is because they're directly related, and the nature of their respective mob powers don't have to be the same despite them being sisters. The same goes for the other mobs who have family in the Nether.  
Also, call me a poor researcher, but I wasn't aware that the mod had Nether equivalents for villagers.  
Jack only thought of the portal as a rumor because the mobs don't know for sure if it exists, mostly because they can't just ask anyone in Ironhand without consequences. To most human civilizations, the presence of a Nether portal in Ironhand—and possibly other towns, villages and cities—is common knowledge.  
Still…it's a good theory. Keep it in mind, but remember to look for other possible suspects as well. I will have to say that the mob's identity won't be confirmed in this episode of the _Gone Rogue _series.  
I feel as though this reply to your review has already said enough about Christine's involvement (or, possibly, her lack of involvement) in this matter. Or maybe I'm just trying my hand at reverse psychology here to throw you off… We won't know for the time being._

* * *

_Chapter thirteen: Mark of the shadow_

"He's done _what_?!" Blazette yelled in Hera's face.

Hera—Herobrine's 'daughter'—looked at the ground. The mobs were standing around her, visibly shocked.

"_He's done WHAT_?!" Blazette repeated.

"Jack thought it was Áhýdan who took him," Minerva whispered. "And now you're saying it was Herobrine all along?"

"I _tried_ to stop him," Hera said. "It even came down to a fight. He outmatched me."

"Either that," Blazette growled, "or you're just too spineless to go all out against him."

Hera glared, but didn't retort. Of course she could easily hurt the mobs if she wanted—that was, if Herobrine would for whatever reason decide not to intervene—but she didn't.

"Why won't Áhýdan be bound to the Rule?" Minerva asked.

Blazette looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? _That_'s all you're interested in?!"

"I just want to know how he wants to take the Overworld when the Rule is standing in his way," Minerva said. "We'll ask Herobrine about Jack when he gets here."

Blazette shook her head disapprovingly.

"He can ignore the Rule," Hera said, "thanks to the method he's using to get to the Overworld."

"The crystals," Minerva said.

Hera nodded.

"But why go to the Overworld?" Minerva asked. "If he can go to basically any world…"

"Two reasons. First of all, my father likes the Overworld, so Áhýdan can use that to spite him. Secondly, the Overworld is closer to the Nether than any other world, making it easier for him to get there first. After he's done there…" She grimaced. "He'll go to other worlds. Who knows what he's going to do to them."

"So he won't stop with the Overworld."

"Probably not. His nature inclines him to get some more revenge against Dad. And me. His second target will probably be Jack's world. Eventually he'll come for the Nether."

**"****Which is why I did what I did."**

They turned to Herobrine, who stood a distance away. To his right sat Jack, looking to the ground, defeated. His raven hair cast a shadow over his eyes.

Blazette glared at Herobrine. "You!" she said. "One of us is about to be taught a lesson."

As she and some of the others began arguing with Herobrine, Iris walked over to Jack. She kneeled down next to him. "Hey Jack?" she gently said. "We just found out who brought you here…"

Jack glanced at her. The downcast look in his eyes was almost frighteningly out of character. So far, he'd been so steadfast, so _stubborn_. He didn't strike her as the kind of guy who liked to show vulnerability.

And now he looked broken.

"He's been mind-controlling me," Jack eventually mumbled.

She nodded. "We heard that too."

"He's still doing it now."

"We know."

"And I have to go through those Trials on my own."

She frowned. "What?"

He glanced at her again. "I take it you didn't hear about that."

"About what?"

"If you come with me to that prison," Jack sighed, "Áhýdan will force the entrance shut. He knows mobs can cheat his Trials. Getting into the prison will take a lot of effort on Herobrine's part then, and that'll drain some of his power. The fight between them will be a lot riskier if that happens."

"He can't do that," Iris said a little too loudly, drawing the attention of the other mobs. "Herobrine can't let you go alone."

"He's going to do it anyway. Apparently, the Trials were designed to stretch a single person—a single _human_—to their limits. Áhýdan's not going to let you come with me without a fight."

"Well then, a fight is what he's going to get." She turned to Herobrine. "If we team up, there's a much better chance to get through those Trials and live to tell the tale."

**"****Even if there was a way for you to get in without Áhýdan's permission,"** Herobrine said, **"it would only be a matter of time before he found you. Besides, I intend to have a human as my only champion. I need Jack to become a symbol of sorts, and him having to share that credit with mobs will only weaken that symbol."**

Blazette snarled. "Why, you…"

**"****And, as much as I despise myself for it, I never thought that his chances to survive were significant—if they are even existent to begin with. Trying to elevate them was a lost cause."**

"You son of a bitch," Jack quietly said.

**"****I saw no other way."**

"Yeah, sure, keep making excuses like some child," Blazette snarled. "Taking responsibility is something you should leave to the adults."

**"****Do not be so insolent, mob."**

"Insolent!" Blazette said. "What about you, huh?!"

"The crystals," Honetsu suddenly said.

Everyone turned to her.

"It's crazy," Honetsu said. "I'm aware of that."

"What's crazy?" Minerva asked.

Honetsu took a breath, looking to Herobrine. "Áhýdan's escaping through the crystals, but you still have _some_ power over them, don't you? Use them to send us into the prison; we'll be able to help Jack with each Trial."

"You're right—that's crazy!" Blazette said.

"What am I missing here?" Jack weakly asked.

"Each Trial," Minerva explained, "is meant to protect one of the crystals."

"Crystals?"

Minerva looked at Herobrine. "You didn't tell him?"

**"****I did not have to until we reached the prison."**

Minerva shook her head. "Jack," Minerva said. "The crystals are the chains I told you about. The chains Áhýdan is binding himself to."

"They're meant to thicken the borders between the prison and other worlds, in a way," Hera added. "They are the things that are keeping Áhýdan trapped."

Jack recalled seeing Herobrine being surrounded by five luminous purple crystals in his dream. Maybe those were the crystals they were talking about.

"Áhýdan's done something we didn't anticipate," Hera continued. "He's binding himself to the crystals, somehow. He's slowly becoming one with them, travelling _through_ them, and that'll allow him to _get inside_ the borders between worlds. Once he's merged with those borders, travelling to other worlds will be a cakewalk."

"And the Rule?" Jack asked.

"When he's integrated himself into the borders," Hera said, "finding him will become nearly impossible. It's like a stealth mode. Or camouflage. Enforcing the Rule against him will become a lot more difficult. He'll be stopped eventually, but not before he's caused some major damage."

"That's why squaring off with him directly won't work?" Jack asked. "Because he's literally divided parts of himself among those crystals? You kill one piece, the others will just…live on and keep doing what they're doing?"

"You catch on quickly. Aside from that though, he has combined his own power with the crystals' to match ours. In order to kill him and prevent him from traveling to other worlds, those crystals need to be destroyed first. In order to reach them, you'll need Dad and me to keep Áhýdan busy so he doesn't kill you the moment you enter his prison."

"So I'm going to be destroying crystals…" Jack said.

"_We_ are going to be destroying them," Blazette said.

Jack glanced at her. Was she really taking his side in this? He was under the impression that she didn't like him very much. "You want to be sent through the crystals that _Áhýdan is literally inside_," Jack sighed. "I don't know much about magic, but you just said yourself that it's crazy, and I have no trouble believing that."

"It's possible," Hera intervened.

A silence fell. Herobrine glared at Hera. The latter looked back defiantly.

"We can do it," Hera said. "No problem."

**"****With four of the five,"** Herobrine begrudgingly added. **"Áhýdan has far too much power over the fifth. I dare not try to send you through there."**

"So we _are_ going to do this?" Minerva said.

**"****Do not be so eager. If Áhýdan gets the chance, he will kill anyone who cheats his Trials. When you have done your part, I will send each of you back to the Nether."**

"And I'm pretty useless," Honetsu said. "I'm no fighter or anything like that. I don't think I'll be able to help."

"You came up with the idea, at least," Minerva said.

Iris looked at Jack. "I guess that'll have to do," Iris said.

Jack remained silent at first. "Thank you," he finally said, his voice soft.

"There's going to be a price to pay though," Iris said to Herobrine. "You're not going to get away with all of this."

**"****Is that so?"**

"Yes, actually," Hera said. "You were the one who always said that even beings like us can't just do what we want and not expect consequences, remember?"

"You've seen it all before," Blazette quietly said. "When you tried to imprison Áhýdan the first time, you made him pretty mad."

Herobrine's expression turned into a glare. With a few steps, he walked over to Blazette, looming over her with seething white eyes.

Blazette wasn't fazed. "You want to fight?" she challenged, grinning maniacally. "Go ahead and assume physical form, and we'll see how much you like getting burned alive."

Herobrine looked at her disdainfully, but he stepped back. Like Hera, he wasn't one to pick a fight with humans or mobs, even if he could easily defeat them.

The mobs hoped he didn't have the same code when it came to beings like Áhýdan.

* * *

As Ari lost consciousness, Andr gently kept her from falling over. She continued teleporting around the Realm with her friend. Every two seconds, they were taken somewhere else.

Before heading to Ironhand, the mobs had decided that everyone needed to develop a tolerance to the side-effects of Andr's teleportation. This only added to the many preparations they had to make, which in turn only added to Andr's fear and impatience.

She clenched her teeth. It was taking way too long to start their rescue mission. Mending the gap that'd divided the mobs had only been the beginning. Now there were teleportation side-effects, Ironhand's security, the unknown location of the Nether portal, and who-knew-what-else standing in their way.

A groan made her look down at Ari. Her red eyes were half open.

"Ow," Ari lethargically mumbled. "Why's my arm numb?"

It was then that Andr realized she'd been gripping Ari's arm a little too tightly. She quickly relaxed her hand. "S-sorry…!" she apologized. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine," Ari said. "How long have I been out?"

"I'm not sure." Andr averted her gaze. "I was…um…thinking."

"About how messed up this situation is?"

"… Yeah."

"Alright," Ari said, slowly getting out of Andr's grip. She took a moment to regain her balance, but couldn't do so without Andr practically carrying her. "You want to talk about it?"

Andr shook her head. "I'm okay."

Ari nodded, then—still with Andr's help—hobbled over to a tree and leaned against it, evidently still dizzy. "You and Jack," Ari said. "You're the first mob he ever met after Yaebi, right?"

Andr nodded.

"You seem pretty motivated to get him back," Ari said. "More than anyone here, I mean."

Andr shrugged. "I can teleport, I know how to stay hidden… I should be able to reach the Nether portal on my own without trouble." She hesitated. "I feel like I should go right now."

"I guess I can understand that. But even you have your limits. We don't know what to expect in the Nether; there could be another teleporter. Or worse. You'll need us to watch your back."

"But what if that teleporter targets everyone else first?"

"If you go there on your own and never come back, no one will know what happened to you. That can have consequences. Just look at Athena; she's got no way to know what really happened to Minerva after she parted ways with her. That's…messing her up, even if it doesn't seem like it. If we're doing this, we're doing this as a team. Think about Jack; he left without a word, and look where it got us. Where it got _him_."

"Is there a point to risking the others' lives though?" Andr suddenly wondered. "I'm the only one who can teleport and sense incoming danger. What if someone dies simply because they're there, and they wouldn't have died if they hadn't come with me?"

"What if _you_ died because we weren't there?" Ari paused. "It doesn't sound likely, but you'll need all the help you can get. Besides, we've all faced danger more times than we can count, so none of us have a lack of experience there."

Andr fell silent. "I guess that's true," she finally said. She wasn't sure if she meant it. Many mobs had fought humans in the past, but fighting other mobs was a completely different story.

"Cool." Ari paused. "Anyways, how about the teleportation thing?"

"You should have a tolerance by now." Andr gently grabbed Ari's arm and teleported again. "Did you feel anything?"

"Not more than I already did. Still dizzy though."

"That'll wear off."

"Good," Ari said. "I, ah, don't suppose you can teleport me to my room? I think I need to lie down."


	15. Failure of the Rule

**NovaOrAvon: **_Oh ok, I misunderstood at first. As a side note, this story was designed and written before the Village and Pillage update, so I'm still adhering to the old villagers at least for the time being.  
That's about all I can say without spoiling whether you're right or wrong._

**ClassEthan: **_Thank you! I'll do my best._

* * *

_Chapter fourteen: Failure of the Rule_

A figure strode through the quiet, peaceful-looking area that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Despite the calmness, he could still sense the tension, hidden from everything but him. His peers were angered; they have been angered ever since Snyder got taken to the Overworld, but they could not do anything as of yet.

A big orange bird sternly looked at him from the near distance. A moa, he realized. Peaceful creatures. Usually. Not that they could harm him, even if they wanted to.

"Tristan."

He turned to the voice. He had sensed Karles' arrival before the man had spoken.

Tristan gave a nod of greeting. "Karles. What brings you here?"

Karles approached. "Snyder's ordeal," he said. "The Rule may work to our advantage."

"Yes—and to Snyder's. Ironic."

"Certainly."

They started walking side by side, passing the moa. It continued to glare at them but did nothing else.

"You are angered," Karles said. It was not a question.

"Yes," Tristan admitted. "I am. We all are."

"Yet you are aware that the Rule is in our favor."

"Only to some extent. The Rule lets us heal wounds. I would rather have the power to prevent those wounds from existing at all."

Karles grunted approvingly. "Your mind is still that of a protector."

"Of course. Raulyn may have turned out to be the enemy in the end, but he genuinely cares for Ironhand. You and I are no different from that."

"Wrong. Unlike us, Raulyn never turned his back on the Hunters as he should have. He has no regrets for the atrocities he commits." He paused. "But this is not about Raulyn." He gave Tristan a meaningful look.

Tristan glanced at him, saying nothing. Then, taking the older man's hint, he focused on something else.

He took a moment to extend his gaze, using his power to glimpse the Nether.

Jack's sense of defeat and apathy washed over him immediately.

Tristan sighed and quickly retreated. Herobrine did not actively keep anyone from taking a look at the Nether, but he would act if someone watched for too long.

He knew Karles had sensed him look. "That," Tristan said. "That is what I want to protect him from."

"As do I," Karles said. "But we cannot. We must bide our time. The fight is beginning; if Áhýdan wins, we must do what we can to limit his path of destruction."

"_Then_ we can protect," Tristan muttered. "Only when entire worlds are at risk, we can protect."

"I, too, dislike this situation," Karles said. "But we can only do so much."

Tristan sighed but nodded. Nothing about this mattered anymore. As Karles had said, the fight was beginning. Fate would ultimately decide who the winner would be.

* * *

_**End of act 2**_

* * *

**Alright, so that's the end of the second act. Give me some time before the third begins.**

**ALSO: There's an exam week incoming, so I'll have to devote most of my time to studying.**


End file.
